Friday, February 28, 2014

Obituary -- Irma Pauline Young 1924-2014



     Irma Pauline Young was born September 22, 1924 in Athelstan, Iowa to John and Mary (Rusco) Cordell. She passed away February 24, 2014 at the Clearview Nursing Home in Clearfield, Iowa at the age of 89.

     Pauline was united in marriage to Burtle Young on September 20, 1941 in Bennett Springs, Missouri. She was a homemaker. He preceded her in death in 2000.

     Also preceding her in death were her parents; one daughter; Irene Harrison, one son; Rick Young; 2 grandchildren; 2 sisters and 4 brothers. 

     She is survived by children: John Young and wife Linda of Villisca, Iowa; Forest Young of Blockton, Iowa; Marvin Young and wife Margaret of Bedford, Iowa; Denzil Young and wife Vickie of Mt. Ayr, Iowa; Janice Maxwell of New Market, Iowa; David Young and wife Shelly of Blockton; Frank Young of Maryville, Missouri; and Shirley Young of Blockton; 17 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

     Pauline will be sadly missed by all who knew and loved her.

     Funeral services will be 11:00 A.M. Thursday, February 27, 2014 at the Prugh-Dunfee Funeral Home in Grant City, Missouri.  Rev. Scott Marcum will officiate. Interment will be in the Athelstan Cemetery near Blockton, Iowa.

Obituary -- Evelyn Ellen Thompson 1919-2014

Evelyn Ellen Thompson, 94, passed away on Thursday, February 20th, 2014 at Southern Hills Specialty Care in Osceola, IA. The youngest of four children, she was born to Joseph and Ellen Sanders Sohm on October 19, 1919 near LeSueur, MN. She spent her childhood in that area, learning to keep house and cook at the age of 11 when her mother died. After graduating from high school in 1938, she was offered a music scholarship to the University of Minnesota. She turned the offer down in order to stay home and take care of her dad. She married Howard Thompson at the Little Brown Church in Nashua, IA, on January 13, 1941. They moved to Davis City, IA in 1945 after her dad's death.

Evelyn was always a hard worker. She was in the restaurant business for many years, twice owning the Davis City Cafe and also owned the K Bar C Restaurant with her husband and their son Arnold. But anyone who knew Evelyn will remember her for her beautiful flowers. She would spend hours in any kind of weather working in her flower beds.

Evelyn is survived by her three sons, Steve (Jan) of Cedar Rapids, IA; John (Rosie) of Santa Barbara, CA; and Arnold of Davis City, IA. Also surviving are three grandchildren, John (Deborah) of Guam; Shawn (Tom Briski) of Berthoud, CO; and Mary (Aaron Oathout) of Vancouver, WA, and great-granddaughter Rebecca of Boston, MA. Other survivors are four sisters-in-law; Margaret Locke and Joyce Thompson, both of Grant City, Margaret Thompson of Manchester, GA, and Madge Thompson of Lamoni, IA as well as many nieces and nephews, including Eldred and Allen Muehlhausen of LeSeur, MN, and Ron Muehlhausen of LeSeur, MN, and Ron Muehlhausen of Mequon, WI, and many friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Howard, her parents, her sister Lila Muehlhausen, and brothers Wesley and Clinton Sohm.

Evelyn will be missed by all who knew and loved her. Memorials may be directed to the family.

A Memorial Service celebrating Evelyn's life will be held on March 10, 2014 at Prugh-Dunfee Funeral Home in Grant City at 10:30 am. The family will greet people at the funeral home one hour before the service. Interment will be at the Kirk Cemetery in Allendale, followed by lunch at the Allendale Community Room.

Monday, February 24, 2014

Worth County Sheriff's Report

2-17 -- Report of a slideoff south of Grant City; officer assisting.
2-17 -- Officer serves papers in Worth County.
2-17 -- Fire Chief calls about radio updates.
2-18 -- Officer does an IDOD at Sheridan.
2-18 -- Conservation agent calls about tree stands at Seat Wildlife Area.
2-18 -- PA office calls regarding February 25th trial being canceled.
2-19 -- Officer goes to Head Start to assist in a program for the children.
2-19 -- Person in to do a 90-day registar as a sex offender.
2-19 -- Gentry County Sheriff calls needing info on person writing bad checks.
2-20 -- Person calls about a suspicious vehicle; officer checks out, all OK.
2-20 -- Sheridan Fire Chief reports high winds and lots of pea sized hail.
2-20 -- Officer assists person that locked keys in car.
2-21 -- Person in to apply for CCW permit.
2-21 -- Information received about tornado drill on March 4th.
2-21 -- Report of water leak near Hy-Vee; referred to city supervisor.
2-21 -- Report of possible gas leak; city supervisor notified.
2-22 -- Missouri State Highway Patrol has a drunk driver and is requesting assistance; person transported to jail.
2-22 -- Highway Patrol has another drunk driver and he is also transported to jail.
2-22 -- Call of person making threats to harm himself; Sheriff transports subject to Maryville hospital.

School Approves Financing for Facility Improvements

The Worth County School Board, at their regular Thursday Night Board of Education Meeting, approved financing following a public hearing from L.J. Hart & Company to make capital improvements on the facility. Improvements will include repairing the fire escape going down from the bandroom to the football field, replacing the leaking ag roof, installing security doors, repairing the deteriorating steps going down from the high school building to the lockerroom and ag room, repairing the decks on the home side of the football field, and replacing the all-weather track.

There will be two main entrances for the school. One system the school is looking at involves giving people who need access security cards; the cards could not be used except during the time period designated by the school. If a card is lost, it would be deactivated remotely. Superintendent Dr. Matt Martz said that would avoid the problem of duplicate keys floating around. Traffic would be monitored by security cameras so that school personnel would know who was entering and leaving the building at all times.

Amanda Gilland Hired as New Housekeeper for Courthouse

Amanda Gilland was hired as new housekeeper for the Worth County Courthouse.

The county had total assets of $1,292,766.76, up $32,776 from last year. General Revenue was up $306 from last year while Road and Bridge was up $66,000 from last year.

Emergency Management Director Pat Kobbe reported that the county's annual tornado drill will be March 4th. All sirens will be tested at that time. An emergency exercise is being planned and radios were reprogrammed. Kobbe said she was attending meetings around the area regarding the new emergency management program as well as earthquake preparation. In the event of a major earthquake in the state, the county would be expected to shelter people who are flown in from the other side of the state. Kobbe said that if that were to happen, the county might have trouble stocking up on food and gas.

The county addressed a brush complaint from Doyle Parman regarding Road #136; he complained that trees on the south end were blocking the sun and preventing the road from drying. The county decided that it had not yet gotten high enough on the county's priority list to send brush letters. Brush letters are based on complaints, whether it is a school bus route or mail route, the ability of road and bridge personnel to grade the road, and other factors. The brush ordinance does not apply to brush on private property, but it does apply to brush that is on county right of way.

Road & Bridge Foreman Jim Fletchall reported that some road tubes were freezing with ice. He also reported one section of Old 169 needed building up because of long-term runoff coming from a private driveway.

Obituary -- Terry Meek 1959-2014

Terry Alan Meek, 54, Grant City, Missouri was born October 21, 1959 in Ringgold County Hospital in Mt. Ayr, Iowa to Carl Marion and Madlyn (Barber) Meek. He departed this life on February 20, 2014 in Ringgold County, Iowa.

     After graduating from Worth County High School in 1978, Terry served 6 years in the United States Air Force. He returned home to Grant City and worked at various jobs in the mechanical field and in road construction. He also served as volunteer fireman for a time. 

     He is survived by his wife Melinda of the home, parents, Carl and Madlyn, one son, Jason and wife Christina of Independence, Missouri, two step daughters, Lindsay Hull of Coin, Iowa and Hannah Weaver of Clarinda, Iowa, two step grandchildren, Keegan and Kennedy Hull,  3 brothers, Randy and wife Kris Meek of Lincoln, Nebraska, Kevin and wife Tyanna Meek and Gary and wife Wendy Meek, all of Grant City, father and mother-in-law Bill and Alice McComb of Clarinda, Iowa, one sister-in-law Tara McComb, two brothers-in-law, Joey McComb of Clarinda and Tod McComb of Des Moines, Iowa, one uncle Larry Meek of Hermitage, Missouri, one aunt, Betty and husband Richard Supinger of Grant City, five nephews, Trevor, Trenton, James, Michael and Colton, one niece, Samantha Meek, many other relatives and a host of friends. 

     Preceding him in death were step son-in-law Bryan Hull and step grandson Myles Hull, grandparents, Carl Sr and Dean Meek, and maternal gradnparents, Lycile and Myrtle Barber.

     Terry was very loving with his family and a friend to everyone he met, always lending a helping hand to anyone in need. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

     Funeral services will be 10:30 A.M. Tuesday, February 25, 2014 at the Prugh-Dunfee Funeral Home in Grant City, Missouri. Pastor Len Green officiated. Interment and military rites were held at the Grant City Cemetery. Visitation was Monday, February 24, 2014 from 6:00-8:00 P.M.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Tiger Boys Win Second in Final Home Game

The Worth County boys won their second game of the year Thursday, a 65-41 win over Pattonsburg, on their final game of the year. The Tigers led 10-15 points for most of the game and then used a 22 point fourth quarter to pull away. Brevyn Ross led the scoring with 21 points, followed by Truman Moore with 20. Chris Alarcon had 7, Nate Pointer had 3, and Jared Simmons had 2. Andrew Mullock, who had been sidelined all year with a knee injury from football, finally got to play and had 2. Truman had 13 boards in the win while Brevyn Ross had 3 steals and 7 assists.

The girls had one of their more productive offensive games of the year against a solid Pattonsburg team, but could not buy a stop when they needed one and lost 66-49 to the Panthers. Kristen Andrews had 13 points, a season high, including 7 out of 8 on free throw shooting. Kaitlyn Davidson had 12, and Quinci Schottel had 8, a career high for varsity. The game was marred by numerous fouls for both teams; Worth County was whistled for 24 fouls and Pattonsburg had 21. Kaitlyn Davidson had a double double as she added 10 boards, 3 assists, and 5 steals.

On Monday, the boys got a scare as Brevyn Ross was injured as he crashed into the part of the stage that is not padded on the north end of the gym in the third quarter as Worth County was trying to protect a vanishing lead. He hit the stage with his back full speed and lay face down on the floor for a few minutes as the whole gym turned silent. Without Brevyn, the boys lost the lead and the game to North Harrison 59-55. But thankfully, Brevyn was not seriously hurt although he sat out the Stanberry game, a 69-24 debacle to the state runner-ups from last year. He came back in the win against Pattonsburg at full strength. Worth County could not guard Reed Hallock, North Harrison's 3-point shooter as he was making everything from NBA range all night, collecting 33 points in the Shamrock win.

The girls lost a 60-31 debacle to North Harrison as they could not stop the Shamrocks' post game and they could not stay out of foul trouble. They played without Sydney Thummel (shoulder). Claire Andrews was a bright spot offensively for Worth County, getting 14 points. Quinci Schottel followed with 7. Sydney got to play in the Stanberry game and the Tigers made a game out of it, down only 19-18 at the half. But Stanberry outscored them 13-7 in the third quarter to take control and get the 43-37 win. Worth County landed seven players in the scoring column, but it wasn't enough. Sydney Thummel had 11, Kaitlyn Davidson 8, Claire Andrews 6, Sidney Troutwine and Payton Adwell 4, and Kristen Andrews 2. Worth County struggled at the free throw line, where they shot 9 for 23.


Nation Road Bridge Next on County Repair List

Road & Bridge Supervisor Jim Fletchall said that the bridge on the Nation Road would be the next to be replaced, either this year or next. He said that it was the bridge that was in the worst shape right now. He said that the county has gotten rid of around 3-4 bridges annually for the last 15 years.

The county awarded the salvage bid to Richard Supinger.

Leonard Roush had his last day of work on Friday, February 14th after 25 years of service to the county. The county offered employment to a new employee Monday. It will be a part time position. Commissioner Chevy Davidson said that there had been 12 people applying for the position.

The County General Revenue fund is at $235,920.74, up $13,995.02 from last year. The Road and Bridge Fund is at $400,713.86, up $48,783.45 from last year. A lot more taxes were paid than expected and some people came in and paid back taxes.

The commission shut off a plugin near Allendale that the county says they don't need anymore.

The county received a request from Max Dawson not to grade Old 169 south of Grant City, citing people driving through his fences, speeding, the county not spraying the road for dust, and making the road worse when they graded it. Commissioner Reggie Nonneman spoke to Dawson on the phone and replied that other landowners wanted the road graded and that he should contact the Sheriff anytime someone drove through his fences. Deputies Tom Trullinger and Tony Steele said they had not received any calls about cars driving through fences recently. The county has put speed limit signs on both ends of Old 169. The county does not spray roads for dust.

Worth County Sheriff's Report

2-10 -- Officer in for bailiff duty.
2-11 -- DFS officer wants deputy to assist on hotline call.
2-12 -- Person in to do an incident report.
2-13 -- No report.
2-14 -- Person calls about road conditions.
2-14 -- Court officer in with papers to serve in Worth County.
2-14 -- Sheridan resident reports possible breakin, officer investigates.
2-14 -- Officer gets call about stolen hedge posts.
2-16 -- Gentry County calls about a person who may be threatening harm to themselves; may be in Worth County.
2-16 -- 911 call of disturbance in Grant City.

Grant City Facing Increasingly Strict Water Regulations

Brock Pfost of Middlefork Water Company came to the regular Grant City Council Meeting and told them that they were going to face increasingly strict water regulations from the state. In Missouri, the state DNR has primacy over EPA because Missouri's is stricter under the Clean Water Act. The Sierra Club successfully sued the state because they said that the state was not strict enough in regulating small towns. The cost for complying with new regulations, according to Pfost, could be astronomical. For instance, he said that Hopkins would have to pay between $1.8 to $2.2 million to come into compliance with DNR regulations. And even then, there is another problem; sometimes, cities spend six or seven figures to come into compliance only to have the state make up new regulations, meaning that the city is out of compliance again. By way of comparison, Maryville has had to spend $13 million to upgrade their water system to address ammonia issues while St. Joseph had to raise their sewer rates $25/month permanently and spend $50 million in order to address ammonia issues. And Ravenwood had to spend $650,000 in order to come into compliance, only to be told three weeks later they were still out of compliance.

The current issue that the state is focusing on is ammonia. Pfost said that Grant City could build a zero-discharge system and apply wastewater to area farmlands. The city would need 70 acres plus 20-30 more for a buffer zone. Grant City's current lagoon permit, which they obtained in 2008, expired last October. Under the proposed new system, the city would have to find a way to store the wastewater until they could irrigate it. In this manner, Pfost said the city would avoid costs associated with taking chlorine out before disinfecting the water.

The EPA has finalized new toxicity standards, meaning that Missouri's DNR has to follow suit or lose primacy status. That, according to Pfost, would mean that area cities and towns would be regulated by EPA and not DNR. The DNR has supplied a list of possible technologies that cities could use. But Pfost said that if cities don't discharge, there was no limit to how much water they could apply to land. He predicted that phosphorus would be the next point of emphasis; he said the only way to remove it would be through chemicals.

Currently, the city charges 50% of water rates for sewer. That would figure out to $21.50 for 5,000 gallons. The council agreed to raise that to 62.5%, which Pfost said would be enough to finance a $250,000 project if necessary. He predicted that water and sewer rates were headed up around the area. The DNR is seeking to meet with cities to explain the changes.

Pfost said that the lake is down to four feet, which he said was one foot higher than last year's flash drought. He said that he would like to be able to sell water if necessary to Nodaway County if water levels permit.

The new 11 mile water line is now open for service. The city successfully completed testing for the new line and has now switched over. Final details of the project were discussed. Connection was completed on Tuesday, February 18th. All that is left is closing off the old line and cleanup work. Randy Mehendall of Snyder & Associates agreed to put gravel on roads affected by water line work. He said he would do so as soon as possible, when roads dried out. The line has a one year warranty effective February 18th. The city has $36,000 worth of grant money left over for the project that they can use until May 16th.

The council voted to sell an old vehicle that they didn't need to Ed Ackley for $1,014.

Water Superintendent Greg Miller reported that there were three leaks, 40 frozen meters including some that had never froze before, and some frozen pipes. One line was four feet deep but still froze. There was a main break at the state barn. The tower never got low; however, there was one point in which the city couldn't get the water to town. The council discussed moving some lines in the future to prevent freezing. Some tubes were sinking due to settlement, which happens more frequently in drought conditions.

Public Works Director Carl Staton reported that the dump truck needed new back tires for $1,200. He reported that the city was short of salt. Due to heavy snow in the eastern part of the country, the entire nation has been short of salt this year. However, he said the city was able to get by through getting calcium chloride in Maryville and mixing it with rock salt from MFA.

Great Northwest Days will be April 7th and 8th this year. They were moved due to the weather.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

East Wing of WCCC Renovation Nearly Finished

Work on the east wing of the WCCC Renovation Project is nearly finished and work will start on the north wing, the WCCC board learned at their regular meeting Monday. The therapy room size will be doubled with the old room to be converted into a chapel. Equipment needs for the new rehab room were discussed. The board voted to purchase one lift chair and one weight rack. The floors are being replaced, the hallway and rooms have been painted, and work is expected to be completed by the end of next week. Each hall will be renovated.

Last month was a three pay period month for the facility. Some overtime was paid out due to a vacancy that arose. The facility has hired a new LPN for the night shift. The property insurance was paid out in December. Utility costs continue to go up. A pump broke down in one of the boilers. The facility received $4,099 worth of memorial donations and collected $28,000 in old Medicare billing. Alec Ware was promoted to housekeeping and laundry supervisor.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Joel Scroggie Gets 25 Points; NEN Top Osborn for 3rd Straight Win

Northeast Nodaway's boys beat Osborn 44-36 and Joel Scroggie got 25 points in his final home game as they got their 9th win of the year. He added six blocks in the win as he carried his team in a tight defensive struggle. Northeast was playing against their former coach Ryan Madden, who is now the head boys coach at Osborn. He coached the Bluejay boys to a 19 win season three years ago. Also playing their final home game were Shaun Burns and Steve Schulte.

Madden and the Wildkats had beaten Northeast last year in Osborn after Northeast had beaten them in the PVC Tournament. But Northeast went to 2-1 against Madden. They trailed for much of the first quarter until Garet Jackson hit Shaun Burns at the buzzer for a triple that put Northeast in front 10-8.

But Joel went scoreless in the first quarter despite the obvious size advantage; Osborn had nobody who could match up to his size. Northeast fell behind in the second quarter by as much as five as Osborn was stealing the ball and Northeast was cold from the field for much of the frame. Finally, a scoring flurry right before half by both teams left Northeast behind 21-18. There were some encouraging signs for Northeast as Joel got six points in the period and blocked two shots to keep it from getting any worse.

The momentum changer in the third was Steve Schulte's putback after Joel Scroggie had went one for two at the line and missed his second free throw with 3:53 left. That tied it up at 26 after Northeast had trailed for much of the night. The game was tied at 28 and 30 before Joel got a putback, Northeast got a stop at the other end, and Shaun Burns had a drive and pullup from the left wing to put Northeast up for good to start the fourth quarter at 34-30.

Joel carried the team in the final period, getting 10 in the frame and Northeast tightened up on the other end, holding the Wildcats scoreless during a five minute stretch as they built up an eight point lead by the 2:51 mark and made it stand up.

Northeast's boys also crashed DeKalb's homecoming celebration, winning by 10 last Friday. They also beat West Nodaway in overtime by 7, avenging an earlier loss to the Rockets.

Shorthanded NEN Girls Take Two

Northeast Nodaway's girls won two games this past week despite playing without Claudia Wiederholt (hand). Against West Nodaway, they were able to get the ball into their post players at will. They trailed for much of the first quarter, trailing by 15-14. But then they were able to put on an offensive clinic as any hopes of West Nodaway getting their first win of the season were dashed. Taryn Farnan had 26 and Dallis Coffelt had 24, both career highs. Dallis had said after the Albany game that she didn't think she would get that again, however, she sold herself short. The point totals by the Bluejay posts were the most by an NEN player in three years, when Blair Schmitz patrolled the paint, Kristin Sherry got 22 points in a win against Megan Rosenbohm's Nodaway-Holt Trojans, and Michelle Schulte tagged West Nodaway with 21 in districts that year. The Rockets had aspirations of getting their first win of the year against Northeast like they did last year; however, that was not to be the case. Northeast lost a 47-46 overtime heartbreaker last year after Holly Redden's shot at the top of the key that would have won it in regulation was only a two pointer because her foot was on the line.

Osborn did a much better job of closing off the entry passes to the posts, but Northeast was able to do enough damage inside to get the 47-23 win. Without Claudia to run the point and Osborn doing a much better job of guarding the entry into the high post than West Nodaway, Northeast struggled with spacing issues for much of the night offensively. But they did an outstanding job of getting second chance points. Out of their 22 points in the first half, 12 of them were off second chance points as they were flying to the offensive glass as a team, making up for missing a lot of shots.

Dallis Coffelt had 6 points in the first quarter and Taryn Farnan had 4 in the first period as Northeast took a 14-6 lead after one. Northeast finished quarters strongly against Osborn, getting buzzer beaters at the end of each of the first three quarters. Dallis hit an inside shot with five seconds left in the first period.

After going up 18-6, Northeast hit a long scoring lull. But they made up for it defensively as Osborn was scoreless for the quarter and Bailey Judd scored off a backdoor look from Taryn Farnan to break the logjam with 30 seconds left. Following a Talina Nelson block on defense, Bailey hit Taryn inside at the buzzer to put Northeast up 22-6.

Holly Redden, battling the flu, got untracked in the second half after being held scoreless in the first half. She hit Taryn Farnan inside twice and hit a 3-pointer to help Northeast extend their lead to 31-8. They then went through another scoring lull as Osborn chipped away to close to within 31-13. But as the final seconds were ticking away in the third, Dallis stole a pass after Osborn tried unsuccessfully to roll the ball up the floor and got a layup; Jill Spire then got another steal and hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 36-13 lead. Holly Redden got five points in the fourth and had eight in the second half as Northeast substituted freely in the final period with the game well in hand. Talina Nelson added a putback for Northeast.

Taryn Farnan led the scoring for Northeast with 13 points while Dallis Coffelt had 12.

Seniors Kerrigan Adwell, Taryn Farnan, Claudia Wiederholt, and Holly Redden were recognized following the game.

School Board Rehires Principals, Accepts Bus Driver Resignation

The Worth County School Board rehired both principals and accepted a resignation at their regular Board of Education meeting Thursday. The board went into closed session at 9:15 for a two hour session. Following the closed session, the board voted 6-0 to rehire Jon Adwell as Principal for the 2014-2015 school year for $64,181. The board then voted 5-1 to offer Chuck Borey Assistant Principal and AD at the current salary. The board then voted to accept the resignation of Dawn Brown as a bus driver effective February 14th. Brown left to take a position at Rural Missouri Insurance.

Obituary -- Burl Mullock 1934-2014



Burl Eldon Mullock, 80 passed away early Monday morning February 17, 2014 at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in Edinburg, Texas.

     Burl was born January 12, 1934 to Virgil Cleve and Iva Helen Vance Mullock east of Parnell, Missouri. He attended Miller and Parnell grade school and graduated from Parnell High School in 1952. He married Shirley Joan Weigart June 10, 1956. He entered the Army in August 1956 and completed his basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. He then trained in radio and electronics at Fort Monmoth, NJ. He served in the special services at AFN radio station in Frankfort, Germany. When Burl returned home he was a life long farmer, and also served in the National Guard in Maryville, MO.

     Burl was preceded in death by his parents; a sister, Merle Jean Foley and a granddaughter, Traci Mullock.

     He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Joan, 4 children, Steve (Joni) Mullock of Ravenwood, MO; Kathy (Mike) Brand of Ravenwood, MO; Jerry (Elaine) Mullock of Grant City, MO and Don (Barb) Mullock of Parnell, Mo; 12 grandchildren, 6 great-grandchildren; brother Harry Mullock of Parenell, Mo; nieces, nephews and many friends and neighbors.

     February 17, the world lost a great man, the likes of which there are few left. He was a storyteller, could fix anything he put his mind to, and always had a twinkle in his eye and a witty comment on the tip of his tongue. He appreciated both the old and new, owning a Model T and a Toyota Prius. It was from him many learned the value of a good nap. It was a blessing to have known him. The world lost a great man, a great husband, a great dad, a great grandfather and to many, a great friend. 

     Visitation will be held Friday, February 21 from 6-8 P.M. at the Prugh-Dunfee Funeral Home in Grant City, MO. Funeral services will take place at 10:30 A.M. Saturday, February 22 with interment in the Oxford Cemetery in Parnell, MO.

     In lieu of flowers the family request donations made to the Oxford Cemetery.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Three Injured in Hopkins Crash

Three people were injured in a Hopkins crash Friday morning shortly after 11. The Missouri State Highway Patrol reports that a 2012 Chevy Impala driven by Marie Walsh (70) of Pickering was northbound on First Street in Hopkins and a 2003 Chevy Cavalier driven by Erin Keith (19) of Maryville was westbound on Warren. Both vehicles approached the intersection at approximately the same time. The driver of the Impala failed to yield to the Cavalier. The front of the Impala struck the Cavalier on the front driver side. Walsh received minor injuries and refused medical treatment. Keith received minor injuries and was taken by ambulance to St. Francis Hospital in Maryville. A passenger in the Cavalier, Amber Marn (22) of Maryville, received moderate injuries and was taken by ambulance to St. Francis Hospital in Maryville. Both vehicles were totaled and were towed from the scene. Walsh was wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident. Keith and Marn were not.

Brutal Week for NEN Teams Capped by DeKalb Heartbreaker

It was a brutal week for Northeast Nodaway's teams, going up against some of the best teams in the area. It was capped by the girls playing their best game of the year and dropping a 41-40 heartbreaker to DeKalb Friday. The Bluejays had a strong fourth quarter as they outscored the Tigers 13-5, but fell one point short in the loss. Taryn Farnan had 11 for Northeast, Jill Spire had 8, Claudia Wiederholt and Holly Redden 6 each, and Dallis Coffelt and Brianna Riley had 4 each.

The Bluejays also lost 66-42 to undefeated Nodaway-Holt in a makeup game and 36-25 to Jefferson. Megan Rosenbohm, who has played some of her best games in Northeast Nodaway's gym, had yet another one as she had 38 points Thursday night. Northeast threw a scare into the unbeaten Trojans as they played them evenly, 10-10 after one quarter. But then things fell apart in the second as they had one bad quarter and were outscored 21-4 in the second. Taryn Farnan had 11 points and Jill Spire six for Northeast. The Bluejays struggled at the free throw line in both these games, going 7 for 18 against DeKalb and 4 for 14 against Nodaway-Holt.

Northeast discovered too late that they could play ball against Jefferson as they lost 36-25 Tuesday night. They dug themselves into a 20 point hole before rallying and coming to within eight points at one point before losing by 11. The Bluejays have gotten to where they are finishing games strongly, however; if they can keep this pattern up, they will do serious damage in the final few weeks of the season.

The boys lost 59-40 Thursday to a red hot Nodaway-Holt team. They got balanced scoring, but not enough of it in the loss. Garet Jackson, Joel Scroggie, and Shaun Burns all had 11 while Steve Schulte followed with 7. The boys only made six trips to the line in the loss. The boys also lost 57-32 to Jefferson as they could not find the range against the Eagles. They did not make a single shot from the field until 2:30 was left in the first half, a sure recipe for disaster.

Claire Andrews, Andrew Mullock are Courtwarming Royalty; Tiger Boys Win 1st Game

Claire Andrews was named Courtwarming Queen and Andrew Mullock was named Courtwarming King at ceremonies Friday night and the Worth County boys avoided becoming the first Tiger basketball team since 1970-1971 to go winless as they beat Polo 79-51. The other queen candidate was Kristen Andrews. Junior attendants were Kaitlyn Davidson and Jared Simmons. Sophomore attendants were Dylanie Abplanalp and Chris Alarcon. Freshman attendants were Sidney Troutwine and Jacob Wimer. Crown carriers were Bridgette Hightshoe, daughter of Bill and Leena Hightshoe; Camdain Frisch, son of Michael and Katelyn Frisch; Addison Morin, daughter of Jed and Jenny Morin; and Karson Briner, son of Tyrel and Ashley Briner. The Homecoming theme for this year was "Tiger Globetrotters," with the classes decorating the school hallways around the theme.

During the halftime of the boys game, Worth County dance team and junior dance team members performed to a light show. Dance team members this year are Erin Colvin, Tess Andrews, Ashlyn Barnett, and Kennedy Galanakis. Junior members are Anna Spainhower, Allison Larison, Zoey Morin, Kalli Moellenberndt, Olivia Kanak, Megan Cassavaugh, Keelin Engel, Liz Young, Natalie Carlson, Chloe Belback, and Danyelle Jackson.

The boys had several games that were near-misses throughout the year. They had every expectation of coming in and making a game of it against Polo; the Panthers had only three wins for the year. The Tigers had played close in losses to South Harrison and Maysville; against perennial nemesis South Harrison, the Tigers only trailed by five at halftime before losing by 16 despite missing two players for disciplinary reasons. Brevyn Ross had 27 in a losing effort for the Tigers while Jared Simmons followed with 11, both career highs. The Tigers then gave Maysville everything they could handle. It was tied as late as the third quarter, but too little ball movement at the offensive end and too many offensive rebounds at the defensive end contributed to Worth County's demise in a 53-46 loss. Brevyn Ross had 18 in the game.

The boys came in with the goal of shocking the world; last year, they broke a 12-game losing streak with a courtwarming win over Princeton using the theme. They went on to throw a scare into1st seeded Ridgeway before losing by 5. When the Tigers finally got going this year, it was like a dam bursting as Brevyn Ross would not let the Tigers lose their Courtwarming match. He scored the first 10 points of the game as Worth County raced out to an 18-13 lead after one quarter.

Jackson Pile did all he could to get Polo back in the game, going on a scoring burst late in the first and early in the second to bring Polo to within 21-18 at one point. But then Chris Alarcon got a putback and followed with a transition basket to swing the momentum permanently in Worth County's favor. Chris had not even been expected to play after he took an elbow to the face in the Maysville game the night before in the closing seconds, a game in which bodies were frantically flying all over the place in the final period as Worth County was frantically trying to get the ball back. But he shook that off and had 14 points, a career high, against Polo. Chris had played well in last year's Courtwarming win over Princeton as well.

From there, Brevyn Ross carried the Tigers in the final four minutes of the half, getting 13 in just a four minute span as Worth County went from up three to up 23, at 44-21. The final points were when Brevyn lost control on a fast break in the closing seconds of the half; however, he somehow rolled it out to Ben Badell for a buzzer beater. By the half, Brevyn had 25 points as he was going for Bryce's career high of 38 and possibly Kent Thompson's single game record of 51 points.

But Polo did a much better job of shadowing Brevyn, who picked up his second and third fouls and sat out for much of the period. He did hit Truman Moore twice in transition for layups as Truman was running the floor as well as he has throughout his career. Parker Smith did all he could to get Polo back into the game; he scored 14 in the period as Polo got as close as 17 at one point. But what hurt Polo as much as anything was a lack of balanced scoring. Worth County had been struggling to put five people who could score on the floor all year, but Polo had only two players score, Pile and Smith, until late in the third. They combined for Polo's first 40 points. On the other hand, Worth County got four players in double figures and had a fifth score eight points Friday night.

With Brevyn battling foul trouble, Chris Alarcon stepped up his game and repeatedly got loose in transition to keep the Tigers in control; he had six in the period. Finally, Pile got too frustrated and decked Chris as he was trying to score on a putback and was called for an intentional foul and sat out the rest of the game. That play helped kill any comeback hopes for Polo. Worth County scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter before Coach Bryce Shafar felt comfortable enough to put in his bench. Johnny Carlson scored off a Ben Badell steal, Chris Allen hit a free throw, and Jacob Wimer hit a 3-pointer for the reserves.

Brevyn Ross matched his career high from the South Harrison game with 27 points and added 8 assists and six steals. Chris Alarcon had 14, also a career high. Josh Warner, who was muscling his way to the basket against taller opponents all night, had 13 points. Truman Moore had 10 and Ben Badell 8.

Worth County's girls jumped out to a 10-7 lead in the first four minutes, but then picked the wrong time to struggle defensively as they gave up seven 3-pointers from Tabitha Poje as all hell broke loose from that point on and Polo piled it on for the rest of the game, dropping the Tigers 77-31. Kaitlyn Davidson was one of the few bright spots for the Tigers, getting 16 points despite going up against 6-footer Danielle Allen for much of the game. Claire Andrews was shaken up and had to be helped off the court in the third quarter; the Tigers were already down one player as they lost Ally Buffington for the rest of the year (concussion) after she had been steadily improving. This was the third straight ugly blowout loss for the girls as they also fell to South Harrison and Maysville in similar fashion; they also lost to East Harrison as did the boys.




Friday, February 14, 2014

Missouri Department of Economic Development to Visit Grant City March 28th

The Missouri Department of Economic Development will visit Grant City on March 28th. The tentative schedule calls for them to arrive in Grant City at around 9, take a tour, make recommendations, and finish at around 3-4. The Grant City CBC meeting on March 5th will be used to plan the meeting in further detail. At the Missouri CBC State Convention last fall, Missouri Department of Economic Development's Mike Downing issued a challenge to communities; the first five to text him would get a team of experts from the state to visit their community and help with economic development needs. Grant City was the first of five communities to respond.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Tracy Constant Benefit on March 15th

A benefit auction, supper, and dance for Tracy and Lisa Constant will be held at the Grant City Skating Rink on March 15th. A meal will be held at 5, followed by an auction at 6:30 and a dance afterwards. Tracy was seriously injured in December 2013 when he was struck by a falling tree. Proceeds from the benefit will be used to help with the numerous medical bills incurred during his hospitalization and rehabilitation. Pork sandwiches, sides, and drinks will be served for a free will donation. To donate items, please contact Norman Kanak (564-3615), Ralph Kobbe (564-3514), Martin Maudlin (564-7115), or Johnny Thurman (254-4541). Donations may also be dropped off at Kobbe Feed, Seed, and Auction anytime after March 2nd.

Iowa Man Injured on Snow Covered Roadway

An Ames man was injured in a one car accident Wednesday evening on snow covered roads. The Missouri State Highway Patrol reports that a 1994 Chevy 1500 driven by Chris Bain (28) of Ames was northbound on Route D 8 miles west of Bethany and began sliding on the snow covered roadway. The vehicle left the west side of the roadway and struck an embankment. It came to rest facing northwest off of the west side of the roadway in a ditch. Bain received moderate injuries and was taken to the Harrison County Community Hospital. He was wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident. The vehicle received moderate damage and was towed from the scene.

Worth County Student Wins Daughters of the American Revolution Essay Contest

6th grader Merrideth Spiers of Worth County has won the area Daughters of the American Revolution American History Essay contest. Her essay will be sent to the state for further judging. Her teacher is Amy Jackson. She will be recognized at the United Methodist Church in King City on March 10th; there will be a short program and awards ceremony. She is the daughter of Jim and Merry Spiers of Grant City.

Essayists pretended they were a boy or girl in the American Revolution and wrote about aspects of revolutionary life from the point of view of a young boy or girl forced into more responsibilities due to their father fighting in the war. Essayists described changes that took place as a result of the conflict in their own personal lives. They were judged for historical accuracy, adherence to the topic, organization, interest, originality, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and neatness. Winners were selected from grades 5 through 8; one winner was selected for each grade level.

Mary Jo Fletchall says School Funding Issues Critical

Mary Jo Fletchall said that funding issues were the main issue for the school given the ongoing federal and state budget cuts to smaller schools. A perennial candidate for school board, Fletchall said that the reason she ran was that she was passionate about the school and about Worth County in general. "The school and community have a responsibility to our kids to provide academic and education opportunities," she said. "We have to do the best we can and I believe I would be able to make a difference."

Fletchall serves on the school's PACE committee, a committee set up by the school to look at parental and community involvement and potential partnerships with the school. "We're looking at ways we can bridge the cap and help make students successful," she said. "Serving on that committee is a real eye-opener for me. We're looking at ways that people and organizations can partner with the school." Fletchall said that it was a matter of creating leaders for tomorrow.

Regarding buildings, she said that she wanted to make sure that they were properly maintained. "I've seen buildings that were great and then fell apart because they were not properly maintained," she said. She said that if elected, she would want to see facilities that were safe, ADA compliant, and energy efficient.

On baseball, she said that there were a lot of things that would be great to have, but that she wanted to make sure that it was affordable and that the school provided equal opportunities for both boys and girls. She said that it would affect boys golf and track; she said that she wanted to study the issue and see if it was feasible first.

Fletchall has two children, Trent and Hannah. Her children are eighth-generation Worth Countians; she is the daughter of Danny and Jolene Fletchall and the granddaughter of Orville Fletchall. She is the director of Community Services. "I believe I've been put here to serve and help," she said. She said that there was always room for improvement at the school and that everything should align with the goal of providing a quality education. She said that the biggest accomplishment of the school was that they were sitting well financially even though they have dealt with ongoing federal and state budget cuts. "Worth County has a dying population, so having a highly qualified school is a huge accomplishment," she said.

Cody Mullock Purchases Fletchall Pipe & Steel

The area has seen a wave of new business activity in the last two months. Cody Mullock has purchased Fletchall Pipe & Steel and says that he plans to keep the doors open for a good long time to come. "I worked there as a senior in high school and I was always interested in welding," he said. He plans to have three full time employees and one part-time employee. Cody is the son of Ken and Coleen Mullock of Oxford. He is married to Tonya (Troutwine) Mullock; they have one son, Grayson (5 months).

Currently, they have a large steel inventory and offer custom welding solutions. They sell pond pipe, custom hay trailers, hay stabbers for tractors and skid steers, 3 point bale unrollers, custom cattle crossings, hay rings, Basler & Jensen Bale Beds, custom "Shur-Lok" tarps, feed bunks, continuous fence, sucker rods, and portable welding. They plan to have a grand opening at the end of March and plan to increase their offerings within the next two months.

478 Recycling Surveys Returned

With one month to go, the Northwest Missouri Regional Council has received 478 recycling surveys. This includes 36 from Worth County, 23 from Grant City, and 11 from Parnell. There is still time to turn in a recycling survey regarding the needs of your community; the survey will be closed on March 15th. The figures were provided by the Regional Council and reflected surveys turned in as of February 12th. The total city and county numbers do not match because not everyone filled in the city blank and some surveys were not from endorsing cities. For more information, contact Linda Laderoute at (660) 582-5121.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Fallon Cordell Stiens Opens New Dental Practice

For many years, Dr. Stan Andrews had a dental practice along Route 169 leading south from Stanberry to King City. He would put up a new quote every day to attract attention to his business. Several months ago, he retired and Parnell resident Fallon Cordell Stiens now practices dentistry in the building on the southeast edge of Stanberry. She even continues the practice of putting up new sayings every day.

Stiens said that she had wanted to do something related to healthcare and fell in love with dentistry after shadowing Dr. Phil Poynter of Maryville. “He was a good mentor to me and still is,” she said. She said that she learned about patient and staff management from watching him.

Fallon offers basic cleaning, filling, whitening, crowns, and extraction. They treat people of all ages; her oldest patient is 98 years young. She has been practicing since August. Down the road, she said that she would like to add two hygienists so that they can see five patients at one time.

She currently has three employees – Taylor Dougan, Karen Fuller (21 years experience as a Dental Assistant), and Maggie Marticke (14 years experience). She is married to Kelly Stiens and they make their home in Parnell. She is the daughter of Steve and Debbie Cordell; she has one brother, Ryan. She is the granddaughter of the late John and Bonnie Cordell and the late Orlo and Maxine Beatty.

Stiens went to school at Northeast Nodaway, where she was a cheerleader and graduated from high school. She attended college at Northwest Missouri State and later at UMKC.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Sheridan Has Four Water Leaks in Bitterly Cold Weather

Sheridan sprung two water leaks in bitterly cold weather Wednesday afternoon. Water pressure dropped during the day, prompting a search for leaks around town. The first one was near Pat Burke's house on the southwest corner of town. The second was half a block south of the Christian Church near Jim Bullock's. The water was off during much of the afternoon. Service was finally restored at around 8:30 that evening. Late Thursday morning, a third leak sprung two blocks south of Sheridan Grocery & Cafe. Service was not restored until 8:30 that evening. Temperatures warmed up on Saturday, but they dropped back down on Sunday and the water sprang another leak.

A snowstorm hit the area Tuesday, prompting schools to close for three days this week. Worth County and Northeast Nodaway both cancelled classes on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Grant City Hall, the Grant City License Office, and the Worth County Courthouse closed on Wednesday due to the snow and cold weather. At one point, highways W and YY were down to one lane of traffic Wednesday morning before being cleared. Highway 169 was also down to one lane of traffic south of Grant City due to drifting. There was a slideoff on I-35 south of Bethany.

Northwest Missouri State canceled classes on Tuesday and had a late start Wednesday due to the cold. Temperatures dropped to as low as 12 below zero Thursday morning. The lowest it has been this winter was 22 below zero in Sheridan with some places getting as cold as 28 below.

Most basketball games were canceled in the area. Northeast Nodaway's basketball teams did not play after both teams beat Union Star last Monday. Worth County's teams had two games canceled and only played one game, a long road trip to Princeton Friday. For Worth County, February 17th and May 16th and 19th will be snow make-up days; school will be held on those days. Superintendent Dr. Matt Martz said that he would like for school to be finished by Memorial Day. After the school misses six days, the state allows schools to make up one day for every two missed.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Ken Ham, Bill Nye Square Off in Creation vs. Evolution Debate

Two antagonists squared off Tuesday night in a debate between creation versus evolution. It is a debate that will likely not be settled until doomsday, whenever that is. Ken Ham, CEO of Answers in Genesis, which teaches a literal 6000 year creation, said that nobody would ever change his mind. Bill Nye, "Bill the Science Guy," a long-time scientist and TV personality, was just as adamant. "Show me the evidence," he said at one point. Obviously, in his book, Mr. Ham's logic did not come even close to convincing him.

Ham said that it was a matter of science being hijacked by what he called "secularists" and drew a distinction between historical and observational science. By failing to draw that distinction, Ham accused certain people with a "secularist agenda" of forcing a belief system on kids in schools that denies a Biblical worldview. "They say that man just evolved from animals, while the Bible promises man eternal life," said Ham. He asserted that since we weren't there, we were not in a position to say, for instance, that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old. But Ham said that since the Bible was written by eyewitnesses, we could rely on it. But Nye refused to accept a distinction between historical and observational science. "It's like [TV show] Crime Scene Investigation, where they put the scenes together and piece together who committed the crime," he said. Nye challenged what he called Ham's "remarkable" views of the worldwide flood. "Try taking a sapling and having it grow underwater for a year," he said. He said that if the flood had really happened, there would have been animals near the top of the flood plain in the Grand Canyon frantically trying to swim to safety. But in fact, he says the observational evidence shows that they lived a natural lifespan. Nye said that it was not a matter of attacking religion. "There are billions of religious people on this planet and most of them do not accept a 6000-year creation," said Nye.

Ham said that it was totally possible to be either an atheist or a creationist and still be a successful scientist. At the start of the debate, each side had a 30-minute presentation. In Ham's presentation, he played film clips of various scientists who had invented things who were literal creationists. Ham said that secular scientists committed acts of faith all the time when they assumed that certain scientific laws would hold. Nye countered that was because they were based on what has already been discovered; for instance, the laws of gravity.

Ham questioned how Nye could come up with a hypothesis that could exclude God when he didn't observe the past like we do the present. "None of us saw how the Grand Canyon formed," said Ham, a point he made over and over again throughout the debate. "You weren't there." Ham said that he and Nye looked at the same bodies of evidence and came to different conclusions. "It's really about your worldview," said Ham. "For me, God is the ultimate authority." Ham said that the problem in schools is that kids were not being taught to think critically about science. He said that observations simply confirm one's starting point.

Ham said that all naturalist Charles Darwin proved was that there was evolution within the species, not evolution from one species to another. Instead, Ham said that according to the Bible, God created each animal "after its kind," a statement in Genesis that he says is born out through science. For instance, over time, dogs can evolve into other species of dogs, but not into some other kind of animal. "Dogs will always give birth to dogs and cats will always give birth to cats," he said. Since nobody, according to Ham, ever observed an animal evolving into another kind of animal, that meant that to say that evolution is true is just an act of faith. "But people are always accusing us of trying to teach religion in schools," he said.

Whereas Darwin believed that there were lower and higher races of man, Ham said that has been demonstrably disproved by the Human Genome Project, which proved categorically that there is only one human race. Yet Ham said that the science of today is based on Darwin's ideas. On the other hand, Ham said that the Bible really promoted equality through the teaching that we are all descended from Adam and Eve. "This confirms creation and not evolution," said Ham. "Secularists do not like to admit the belief aspect of their worldview."

In the final analysis, Ham said that it was a battle of authority -- man or God. If man's ethic prevailed, Ham said that the next question could be, "Why not get rid of old people?" He said that whether one believed in Biblical creationism or evolution through random processes affected the way one lived their lives.

For his 30-minute presentation, Nye referred to the geology of Kentucky, where the debate was being held. "There is layer on layer of limestone in Kentucky," he said. In many of those layers, there were coral animals, Nye noted. He said that they had lived their natural lives, something which he said would not have been possible had there been a catastrophic flood. Nye said that the problem with the recent catastrophic flood model was that there was not enough time for those layers to accumulate.

Another piece of evidence Nye presented was the layers of ice that were found when scientists tapped into the Greenland ice. They counted 680,000 layers of ice; since each layer of ice takes one year to form, that ice shelf had been there for well before the flood. He said that for Ham's thesis to be true, there would have had to have been 170 cycles of winter and summer per year, something that is not happening.

Trees, said Nye, are another piece of evidence against a catastrophic flood. Every tree has one ring for every year that it ages. Nye said that there were some bristlecone pines in California that were 6,800 years old and there was a tree in Sweden that is around 9,500 years old, something that would not have been possible had there been a catastrophic flood.

Nye said that one thing that geologists study is the rate at which soil settles. Based on the rate at which soil is deposited, Nye said that the Grand Canyon could not possibly have been formed in the 4,000 year period after the flood; furthermore, if there had been a flood, there would have been Grand Canyons all over the place and not just in Arizona.

Another problem with the creation flood account, according to Nye, is the fact that there are animals in Australia. "How did they get from the Middle East to Australia after the flood?" asked Nye, saying that had that been the case, there would have been remains found along the way of Kangaroos. "There would have had to have been a land bridge to Australia," he said.

Another problem with the flood account, according to Nye, was the logistics of building an arc big enough to house even 7,000 "kinds" of animals. Since there are around 16 million species of animals today, Nye said that in order for Ham's model to work, there would have had to have been 11 new species of "kinds" every day. But in fact, Nye noted that we are losing species every year. "Noah would have had to have gotten 7,000 pairs of animals onboard the ark and found a way to feed them for a year," said Nye, citing what he said was the impossibility of Noah's task. And then, said Nye, there was the matter of building a ship that would not leak in the middle of a storm of that nature, something even modern shipbuilders have a hard time doing. By contrast, Nye gave the example of the Washington DC zoo, which has 400 species of animals housed in 163 acres.

By contrast with Ham's model, Nye said that science was about being able to make predictions and test those predictions. Contrary to Ham's assertion that there were no transitional forms, Nye said that there were some being found all the time; for instance, the tiktaalik, a fish-lizard transitional form found right where scientists predicted it would be found. He explained that science was about making predictions all the time; for instance, being able to predict that a spacecraft would be able to launch into space or what would be needed to care for an elephant. "Ham can't make predictions and demonstrate results based on those predictions," said Nye.

Nye digressed into a history of the Big Bang Theory, which he said was based on observation. Edwin Hubble, an astronomer at Mount Wilson Observatory in California, noticed that the stars were moving apart from each other. Another scientist, Fred Hoyle, suggested that the reason for Hubble's observed phenomena was that there had been a Big Bang Theory and hypothesized where it had originated. Sure enough, said Nye, subsequent radio observations found the point exactly where Hoyle said it was going to be. From there, Nye noted that they were able to determine the earth's age to be 13.7 billion years.

The age of the earth, said Nye, was derived from studying volcanoes. After a volcano erupts, molten lava freezes and locks rubidium and strontium into place. Based on these rocks, Nye said that scientists can tell that the earth is four billion years old. And on top of that, Nye said that there were billions of stars that were more than 6,000 light years away; scientists measure angles of the earth at different times of the year to determine the distance of stars.

Ham said that there was one problem with Nye's logic -- he was not there. But when you add up the time after Christ died and the timeline of Biblical history, you come up with 6,000 years. Others have come up with different results; for instance, the controversial preacher Harold Camping, who predicted the end of the world in 1994 and later in 2011, believed based on the Bible that the earth was around 17,000 years old. Ham said that there were hundreds of methods that have been used over the years to date items and all of them yielded different results. For instance, he said that different methods used on a new lava dome around Mount Saint Helens in Washington yielded results of anywhere between 0.35 million years old to 2.8 millions years old.

The problem with accepting an earth that is millions or billions of years old, said Ham was the fact of sin and death. In Ham's view of creation, death came into the world following Adam and Eve's sin when God killed an animal to clothe them. On the other hand, an old earth view of creation, said Ham, would have meant that death and suffering were on the planet well before Adam and Eve fell. By contrast with the hundreds of dating methods used, Ham said that the Bible could be regarded as infallible history because "they were there."

But Nye said that relying on the Bible in modern English as a history guide was like playing a game of telephone in first grade, when the original message and the final message might be two different things. He said that the Bible had changed constantly from its original form. Contrary to Ham's assertions, Nye said that science could observe the past; since a light year is the distance light travels in a year, scientists observe an object 6,000 light years away as it was 6,000 years ago. "Are we supposed to take your word over what we can observe in our own backyards," Nye asked Ham.

Ham said that they had been working on a model of Noah's ark and that they could have fit around 1,000 different kinds of animals. "That only makes it worse," said Nye. "Then, they create 30-40 new species per day." Ham said that one problem with the speed of light was the "horizon problem." In a nutshell, scientists found that radiation levels at opposite points 13 billion light years away were exactly the same. Scientists have been able to explain the horizon problem with the inflation theory, which scientists say caused the Big Bang through gravitational repulsion. This repulsion makes the universe expand at an accelerating pace, something that is still happening today.

Nye said that for Ham's theory of historical science to be true, something would have had to drastically change in the laws of physics. He challenged Ham to show how natural law had changed in the last 4,000 years. By contrast, Nye said that the Pyramids had been built before the time that the flood had supposedly occurred; he said that there were human civilizations with traditions that stretched far before the time that the flood had occurred.

In all likelihood, this is one of these debates that will not be settled anytime soon regardless of whether you think evolution is logical or illogical. For a simple debate, this one created a major Twitter frenzy, with the hashtag "Ken Ham" trending. There were people who felt strongly on both sides and the debate was live streamed on several different websites.