Clashes over a proposal to dam the Current River came to a head during the Army Engineers’ project hearing in 1949. The meeting stretched for two days at an Arkansas courthouse, leaving the Engineers with 14 hours of testimony to evaluate.
This weekend’s editions also highlight screenwriter Linda Bloodworth, the return of a vital shoe factory, and legal drama in multiple courts.
No issues available — Oct. 12, 1924; Oct. 13, 1974.
__Oct. 12, 1949__
• The much-anticipated hearing on damming the Current River began with a scathing statement from Missouri Gov. Forrest Smith. In a letter read before a crowd of supporters and opponents in Newport, Arkansas today, Smith rejected the planned hydroelectric dams and reservoirs at Doniphan and Blair Creek as economically unjustified, unfeasible, and destructive to Southeast Missouri’s natural resources.
“The state parks, the fish and wildlife resources and especially the large springs of the Current River are unique and irreplaceable,” he wrote.
__Oct. 12, 1974__
• Fans of “M.A.S.H.” will have a link to Southeast Missouri on Oct. 15. The Daily American Republic reported the upcoming episode “Springtime” was co-written by Linda Bloodworth, a 27-year-old screenwriter from Poplar Bluff. Her co-author Mary Kay Place will make a cameo as the character Radar’s girlfriend. “Mad Dogs and Servicemen,” another Place and Bloodworth episode, will air later in the season.
The two women were nominated for a Best Writing in Comedy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1973 for their previous work on “M.A.S.H.” and have written for multiple shows. Bloodworth was also tapped to write an unnamed movie script.
__Oct. 13, 1924__
• A federal grand jury in Cape Girardeau is investigating whether a massive Prohibition dragnet operation was led by a fraud.
More than 60 Butler County residents were rounded up by police, deputies and deputized citizens for liquor violations this spring. They were led by G.H. Foree, a paid investigator from St. Louis. Afterwards, Foree was accused of impersonating a federal agent.
The jury’s findings are currently under wraps, but it’s now known that Foree hasn’t been a member of official prohibition forces for years.
Assistant Attorney General John Dyott ordered 12 of those arrested during the raids released today for lack of evidence. Among them was Tom Barnett, who has allegedly been held without charge in the Poplar Bluff jail for five to six months.
__Oct. 13, 1949__
• After months of worry, the International Shoe Cedar Shoe Company announced it will reopen the Cedar Street factory in Poplar Bluff.
After sales of men’s welt shoes dropped, the factory set to cut back severely and manufacture a single leather shoe component. After outcry from the local chamber, International elected to move production of men’s work boots to Poplar Bluff from another Missouri factory, where storage conditions were inadequate.
Company Vice President E.E. Rand said International was unwilling to injure its working relationship with Poplar Bluff, especially since private citizens raised the money for their second shoe factory on Merva Street and prior expansion of the Cedar plant.
International employs hundreds in Butler County.
__Oct. 14, 1924__
• A Birch Tree man was awarded $600 in damages today by the Howell County circuit court. This lawsuit is stacked upon another being heard in Butler County. J.S. Noll requested $7,500 in today’s suit against Wellman Arthur of Mountain View, whom Noll claimed arranged for his arrest on false liquor charges.
At the time of his arrest, Noll was en route to Butler County as the plaintiff in a $10,000 damage suit against Arthur and several other Mountain View citizens in regards to a different arrest: He was briefly jailed after paying a court debt using land to which he had no deed. The court debt in question was a small fine and legal costs after he was found selling real estate without a license.
Noll sued everyone involved with the first arrest upon his release. The case is pending in Butler County court on a change of venue.
__Oct. 14, 1949__
• A hearing on the White River Basin flood control dams — including two controversial proposals on the Current River — adjourned yesterday. The Newport, Arkansas courthouse was reportedly flooded with 1,000 spectators. With proceedings over, the U.S. Army Engineers must now read and evaluate the testimonies of 122 people who debated for 14 hours. Opposition reportedly dominated the meeting.
__Oct. 14, 1974__
• Butler County will shoulder $3,353,000 of the national debt this year, according to analysis by the DAR. This doesn’t touch the $496 billion debt itself — just its $30 billion interest. The US Treasury Department reported this is triple the interest owed in 1960.
The county’s share of entire U.S. debt, based on incomes and population, would be over $55,325,000.