Much-needed rainfall over the past week has provided
local farmers with renewed hope that this year’s soybean crop
will result in fair yields, and pastures will return to optimal conditions.Until recently, Holden and most of the state had not seen a significant rainfall in about a month, and sweltering temperatures added insult to injury. However, Friday, August 12 began several days of rain that totaled over four inches. Local farmer Joe Hanna said he had been feeding hay to his livestock for the past three or four weeks due to the “burnt up” condition of his pastures. “With the rain, the pastures will come back,” Hanna said. “We’ll have fall grass.” Hanna said he feels it is too late for the rain to have made a difference for the corn crop, but that does not mean some farmers will not still yield a good crop. “It just depends upon where it was planted,” Hanna explained. “The bottom land corn looks good, but most of the corn planted in uplands was hurt pretty bad.” In addition, Hanna said it is much more expensive to harvest corn that has moisture in it. “There’ll be some corn,” he said. “Up north, they got rain three or four weeks ago, so they’ve got a pretty good crop up there.” Hanna said he expects the soybean crop to do just fine. “Soybeans are tough. They will come back,” Hanna said. “They’re setting on blooms and pods again. It just depends on what happens... We’ll have a fair to good crop, I think.” Hanna said soybeans that are planted for early maturity will likely be the most hurt by the drought conditions, while regular beans should yield well. “Soybeans, pasture and hay are what we’re looking at right now,” Hanna said. “It’s too late for the corn. Those who planted sunflowers are fortunate, because they thrive in hot weather. The milo will probably also yield pretty good.” Sam Angima, agronomy specialist with the University of Missouri Extension office in Clinton, agreed with Hanna that the rain was too little too late for this year’s corn crop, and other crops, including soybeans, are expected to fair well. “The rain really made no difference for the corn,” Angima said. “I have seen some farms that will produce good yields, but once the corn has silked no rain for a period of two weeks pretty well means that it is done.” Angima said drought conditions also produce corn with very weak stalks. This causes a problem because they are knocked over easily by winds, which makes it virtually impossible for a combine to pick up the corn. Angima said this is another common reason for low corn crop yields during drought conditions. In addition to the drought conditions that affected the corn crop, Angima said the long period of heat without rain coupled with so much rain occurring over the past two weeks has caused many corn fields to become infested with mold. “If you look at the corn fields right now, many of them look black,” Angima explained. “The same thing happened after the drought in 2003 when the area received eight inches of rain right after a drought. The corn uses the nitrogen out of the soil, and when the rain comes the mold finds good food sitting there and takes advantage of a viable nutrient.” Angima said black corn fields don’t necessarily mean inedible corn. However, for those farmers who store their corn in waiting for prices to go up the process becomes much more difficult because all of the corn must be thoroughly cleaned before being stored. The really impressive yields will come from soybean and milo crops. “Prior to the rain, the pods had started drying out. Instead of expanding, they were shriveled,” Angima explained. “I saw some yesterday in which the upper leaves were beginning to show flowers forming new pods.” Angima explained soybeans usually produce three sets of flowers, one at a time. They shed each set waiting for the environment to change. “With this change in the environment, those who planted beans early may see as much as a 20 percent change in the condition of the crop,” Angima noted. “Those who planted double crops after wheat will do very well.” In addition, Angima said the few milo crops he has seen are doing very well due to the resilience of the crop. “Milo was still doing well, even in the drought,” he said. “The rain has just made it even better.” According to local weather sources, area farmers can continue to expect fair crop conditions due to several more chances of rain and cooler temperatures in the extended forecast. By Christi Stowe News Editor
By Christi Stowe
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Enrollment in the Holden R-3 School District is up
slightly as 1,436 students attended classes for the first day of the
2005-2006 school year, a modest increase of less than one percent over
last year which saw 1,433 students enrolled for the first day of school.
However, this is an increase of nearly four percent from enrollment
figures in 2003 when only 1,381 students were enrolled in the district. District Superintendent Scott Slava cautioned that such modest increases in enrollment should not be misinterpreted for a halt in what has been a fairly continuous growth in the district in years past. “I think we’re going ahead into a period of slow growth. As developments (housing) continue, more students will be coming into the district,” Slava said. “I feel the eastward movement out of the city will continue and we are just on the cusp of that growth.” Enrollment figures for the school district have shown a steady incline since the year 2000 with the exception of a very slight two-year decrease in 2002 and 2003 enrollments. The most dramatic enrollment increase this year appears to be at the elementary school which showed a two percent increase with 297 students enrolled. Last year, 290 students were enrolled on the first day of school. Enrollment numbers at the elementary are up 20 percent from 2003, excluding the third grade which was counted as an elementary level before being included in the intermediate school’s figures. In the elementary, enrollment figures are up 20 percent at the first grade level with 106 students. There were just 88 students enrolled in the first grade in 2004. There were 87 students enrolled in first grade in 2003. Kindergarten and second grade classes at the elementary showed enrollment decreases of seven and four percent, respectively, from 2004. Ninety-eight students enrolled for kindergarten this year while 105 were enrolled at the beginning of the 2004 school year. However, 2005 enrollment numbers at the kindergarten level show an 18 percent increase over 2003 when just 83 students were enrolled at that grade level. At the second grade level, 93 students have enrolled for the 2005 school year while 97 were enrolled in 2004. However, 93 students represents an increase of 21 percent over 2003 when just 77 students were enrolled at that grade level. At the intermediate school, 294 students are enrolled for the 2005-2006 school year which represents a one percent decrease from last year. However, including the addition of the third grade class in 2003, this year’s figures are up 30 percent at the intermediate school. The most dramatic increases at the intermediate school are in the third and fourth grade classes which are each up four percent over last year’s enrollment with 95 students each. This is an increase from 2003 of two and six percent, respectively. At the fifth grade level, 104 students are enrolled for this school year, representing a decrease of nearly four percent. In 2004, 108 students were enrolled at the fifth grade level and 124 were enrolled in 2003. In all, there has been a 16 percent decrease in the fifth grade class since 2003. In the middle school, 349 students were enrolled for the first day of classes, representing a decrease of 2.5 percent from 2004 when 358 students were enrolled. In addition, enrollment at the middle school is down nearly six percent from 2003 when 370 students were enrolled. Despite a fairly significant decrease in middle school enrollment as a whole, a seven percent increase in enrollment was noted at the seventh grade level. This year, 123 students were enrolled at that grade level, compared to just 115 in 2004. In 2003, there were 116 which represents just a six percent increase from that year. Enrollment at the sixth grade level is down 13 percent from 2004 with 106 students enrolled compared to 122 last year. That number is down just nine percent from 2003 when 116 students were enrolled for sixth grade classes. At the eighth grade level, enrollment is down just one percent with 120 students enrolled compared to 121 last year. However, that number is down 13 percent from 2003 when 138 students were enrolled at that grade level. At Holden High School, enrollment is up just shy of two percent with a total of 496 students enrolled. There were 487 students enrolled on the first day of classes in 2004. In 2003, there were just 446 students enrolled which represents an 11 percent increase in enrollment at the high school since that time. In all, enrollment at the high school has risen by a total of 50 students since the year 2000. The sophomore class displays the most significant enrollment change from 2004 with a total of 140 students enrolled. Compared with a sophomore class size of 121 in 2004 and 114 in 2003, this represents a nearly 16 percent rise in sophomore enrollment since last year and nearly 23 percent since 2003. At the freshman level, 142 students were enrolled as of the first day of classes this year. There were 162 at this same time last year which represents a 12 percent decrease. However, there were just 132 students at the freshman level in 2003 which represents a 7.5 percent increase in enrollment since that time. As recently as 2001, the freshman class had an enrollment of just 105 students. One hundred fifteen students have been enrolled in the junior class at the high school compared to 105 last year and 109 in 2003. This is an increase of 9.5 percent since last year and 5.5 percent since 2003. It appears as though the size of the junior class is following past trends when as recently as 2001, it increased to 125 students. The smallest class size at the high school is the senior class with 99 students. There was not a noted increase from 2004 when the same number of students were enrolled at that level. In 2003 there were 91 students enrolled at the senior level which is representative of a nearly nine percent increase in enrollment from 2003 until now. While larger classes moving out of the middle school has provided a downward trend for enrollment at that level, the high school must absorb the increased population those larger classes provide. Slava noted the current high school building was originally constructed for a student population of 375. “It’s pushing close to 500 right now,” he commented. “Modular units have been added to the back and sides, which is not the best educational environment for students. I think we all know we are going to have to look at some type of addition to the high school in the future.” By Christi Stowe News Editor The moving of St.
Patrick’s Catholic Church rectory, a feat that has proved to be
a huge undertaking for the church’s parishioners, was finally
completed on Wednesday, August 17 at 11:30 p.m.The rectory has been moved to make room for a large expansion that is expected to provide more space and handicap accessibility for St. Patrick’s parish. Unfortunately, the relocation of the rectory has been postponed a number of times, requiring the church’s building committee to obtain new permits through the Missouri Department of Transportation each time barriers were met. “We were scheduled to move it at midnight on Saturday (August 13),” Charles “Butch” Shore, building committee member said, “but, that’s when the rains came, of course, and we couldn’t move it when the streets were wet.” According to Shore, the current MoDot permit which would have allowed a contractor hired by the church from midnight Saturday until midnight Sunday was exchanged for a permit to allow the project to begin on Wednesday, August 17 at midnight. Unfortunately, there was some miscommunication between the church and MoDot, according to Shore. The new permit did not allow the same 24-hour time slot the original permit had. “Apparently, when they write a permit for a weekday, you are only granted permission to be in the right-of-way (of the highway) until 6 a.m. that morning,” Shore explained. “We assumed the original times were still in force because we weren’t told any different. Then MoDot came to inspect the work and told us we only had until 6 a.m.” Shore said they were able to get an extension from MoDot until noon on Wednesday, but if the house was not completely moved, MoDot workers would push it over with a backhoe to get it out of the road. This put a huge dent in the project at that time as workers ran into difficulty while moving the house. They were able to move it as far as the middle of Olive Street before they realized they needed to break down the set-up they were currently using, re-jack the house and re-do the entire rail system being used to move it, Shore said. Because of the miscommunication, MoDot did allow work on the house to continue until it was completely moved to its new location. According to Shore, the road was completely opened back up by 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 17. The house remains off of its basement foundation, however, due to rainwater that has collected in the basement. Shore said workers are in the process of pumping water out of the basement so the house can be moved squarely onto the foundation. Once it is completely situated, the house will face Seventh Street with what passersby normally thought of as the back of the house facing Olive Street. It will also be given a bit of a facelift with fresh brick applied to the outside. “It will look basically the same,” Shore said. “It will just look a little newer, a little cleaner.” Once complete, the house will again serve as the church’s rectory, providing housing for St. Patrick’s priest Father Pete Savidge, who is currently staying in rented housing. By Christi Stowe |
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