Country Corners to Become Full Scale Restaurant

Johnny Thurman has purchased Country Corners and will assume ownership from Ejaz Ahmed on January 1st. He told the Express he plans to turn the south end into a full scale restaurant by around April. Removal of the old laundry machines was already taking place as of Friday evening. Country Corners will continue to offer a deli menu on the north wing. The south end will have a normal food menu with Mexican nights and other specials.

Business at Country Corners has slowly been picking up in recent months, with two morning coffee clubs  getting together daily. It will continue to offer gas, fountain drinks, coffee, and other convenience items.

Dr. Dylan Miller Opens Practice Near Allendale

Dr. Dylan Miller has opened a chiropractic office three miles north of Allendale. He is the son of Marshall and Joy Miller of Allendale and is a graduate of Worth County. He received his doctorate at Logan University in Chesterfield (MO), near St. Louis. His hours are by appointment; he will treat musculoskeletal, cranial, laser, acupuncture, nutrition, and applied kinesiology. He is located on Route T on the south side; there is a sign at his house.

Grant City Auto Parts Marks 30th Anniversary

Grant City Auto Parts quietly marked their 30th anniversary this year. Owner Dennis Adams said that he would like to thank all his friends and customers over the years. He said they were the reason he stayed in business for so long. They were originally located on Front Street next to where The Petaler is currently located. After the Square Fire, they relocated to their present location across from Worth County Lumber. Dennis is married to Ann; they have two children, Mitch and Brooke.

Tands Monument to Open in Grant City

Robert (Bob) and Treasa Staton announced Sunday that they would be opening Tands Monument, which will offer a full line of monuments for loved ones.. They will offer monuments for beloved pets as well. They will handle pre-need monuments as well as walk-in customers. They will be running the business out of the Staton home in Grant City until they find a storefront property where they can move to. They are in the process of getting their state tax paperwork completed and getting merchants licenses from the county and city. They plan to begin operations next week.

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.

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.

80+ Attend Open House for New Sheridan Business

Over 80+ people attended the open house for Rockin' CA Feed & Livestock, the new Nutrena dealer in Sheridan. They are located at the former DOT building west of Sheridan. They are selling a wide variety of feed products such as cattle feed and grazers, dog and other pet food, poultry feed, horse feed, and other livestock feed. They will also sell veterinary supplies and medicine as well as feed equipment and bottles.

People came Saturday despite snow that left the roads slick to enjoy food and door prizes that were raffled off that day. Rockin' CA is owned and operated by Clint and Angela Larison of Sheridan and it will become a family business. Clint said that the long-term goal for the business is to get more customers and carry more products. He said that he was willing to deliver feed if it was close to his route.

For many years, Sheridan had a Nutrena dealer in town where Paxson Welding & Tire is currently located. It was run by Claudie and Mike Scott. Clint said that Nutrena was a good product and that there was a need for it in Sheridan, which is a strong livestock community with cattle, pigs, sheep, and horses.

Nesting Place Offers Unique Antiques, Home Decor

The Nesting Place in Maryville offers unique antique gifts and home decor. It is located just east of Taco Johns and Schreck Car Care and across the street from the Hy-Vee parking lot. Owner Teresa Hayes said that she had run a wedding decor business for 15 years, but that she had sold it because she saw a need for an antique and home decor store in Maryville.

The Nesting place offers things for the home as well as all-occasion gifts for Father's Day, Mother's Day, baby showers, and other such occasions.

Hayes said that her goal down the road was to expand to the whole building. She redecorates the store every week so that customers never get the same experience twice when going to the Nesting Place. She only orders one or two of any item that she wants to sell so that customers can get unique items that other people in the area don't have. The Nesting Place attracts customers who want to really decorate their homes and gardens; they were selling items to a customer wanting to create a fairy garden in their yard.

The Nesting Place is open Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 10-6, Wednesdays from 10-5, and Saturdays from 10-2. They are closed Sundays and Mondays although Hayes said she planned to be open on Mondays during the summer.

Beth Meek Buys Hy-Vee Building

Beth Meek has bought the Grant City Hy-Vee building, where she plans to move her Flowers N Things business. She plans to make improvements to the building, including heating, electrical work, painting the ceiling grid, putting in new windows, and other remodeling work. She plans to keep all the labor in Worth County. She plans to move to her new location in April, when she will have an open house. She said that she will be able to have more room for her business and carry more items. Flowers N Things will be the first business to open on the west side of the square since the Square Fire.

Paxson Welding & Tire Celebrates 5th Anniversary

Paxson Welding & Tire celebrated their 5th anniversary Saturday night with the Rev'd Up Band in concert that evening. They belted out oldies along with country favorites as people flocked back and forth from Snakebite to the Park all evening. Paxson Welding & Tire is located in the old Sheridan Nutrena building and offers many different services including a service truck, portable welding, hydraulic hoses, exhaust work, and selling all major brands of tires. They are owned and operated by Tyler Paxson of Sheridan.

Jim Carlson Celebrates 50 Years in Food & Bar Business

Jim Carlson said that he liked the challenge of running a bar. In 1962, he owned and operated the Silver Moon in Sioux City. Beer was 25 cents and shots were 35 cents. It was the first year that liquor by the drink was legalized in Iowa since the end of prohibition. But Carlson came back to Northwest Missouri, where he still had friends and family, in 1965. There, he took over the Dew Drop Inn in Parnell in 1965. Then, he bought the old hotel building from Jim and Mabel Henderson. Carlson and Pat Beatty remodeled it and the Dew Drop Inn became the Long Branch in July 1971. Carlson owned and operated the Long Branch until February 1972, when he sold it to Donna and Phillip Berg and took over the bar in Albany, which he ran until 1985. In 1979, Carlson brought the Grant City bar on the southwest corner of the Square and for a time, ran both the Grant City and Albany taverns. Last decade, Carlson closed Grant City for a couple of years, thinking he was going to retire; however, he changed his mind and reopened it after remodeling it. Carlson said that the biggest changes were the higher prices for food and drinks as well as the rules, regulations, and hoops that one had to jump through. Last weekend, Carlson celebrated 50 years in the food and bar business with free food, music, and entertainment.

A Moment with Mike -- Primary Election & Jobs Bill

Last week many Missourians went to the polls to vote in the August primary.  As we all know, one of our most important rights is the right to determine who will represent us the halls of government and I hope that you exercised that right.  The best way to make our voices heard is to cast your vote and help determine the path our area, our state and our nation will take in the future.  Primary elections typically see turnouts that drop below 30% and even though the primary may not be the final election to determine who will serve your interests in office, it does reduce the field of candidates and it is a major part of the democratic process that places us above most countries.  Voting is one of our most basic rights and I hope that you will all make a concerted effort to make your opinion count as we continue through this very important election season.
With more than 83 percent of the vote, a constitutional amendment that reaffirms and strengthens our right to pray was approved overwhelmingly by Missourians.  Amendment 2, which I have mentioned in past reports, was approved by the General Assembly in 2011 with the intent of making it clear that the right to pray in public will always be protected here in our state.  We have all heard stories of how our expressions of worship have been suppressed by threats of lawsuits and fear of criticism.  By changing our state constitution to more closely reflect the United States Constitution we hope to prevent such acts and protect the rights of all Missourians to pray and worship as they see fit.  I was extremely proud to see the overwhelming number of Missourians who supported this effort.
As the news in recent weeks was dominated by coverage of the elections, many may have missed the fact that an important piece of legislation focused on job creation was signed into law.  It is a bill that was originally passed by the legislature in 2011 to give a tax break to small business owners who create new jobs.  Our intent was for the legislation to apply to all business with 50 or fewer employees.  However, a ruling by our Department of Revenue narrowed the focus of the bill so that it applied to only a select few businesses.  Because we want this deduction to be available to all small business owners who create new jobs, we revisited the issue this year and passed a bill to clarify our intent.  This new piece of legislation, which was signed into law a few weeks ago, provides a tax deduction for small business owners for each new job they create.  The deduction is $10,000 per job or $20,000 if the new job includes health insurance coverage.  In addition, the jobs must pay a wage that matches the county or state average for wages.
Small businesses make up an enormous part of our economic engine here in Missouri and it’s important that we do all we can to sustain an environment that allows them to succeed.  In recent years Missouri ranks high when it comes to efforts to encourage small business growth.  We need to continue to look for ways to make Missouri attractive to business if we are to improve our economy and provide Missouri families with the kind of good-paying jobs they need.
          If you have questions, you may reach me at my Capitol number 573-751-9465, at the local district number, 660-582-4014, by email at mike.thomson@house.mo.gov or by mail at Room 401B State Capitol Building, Jefferson City, MO 65101.