More than 80 Holden High School graduating seniors walked across the HHS stage and received their diplomas in commencement exercises held Sunday in the gymnasium.

After the processional accompanied by the concert band playing the traditional “Pomp and Circumstance,” the 81 graduates were welcomed by R-III district superintendent Scott Slava.

He spoke to the seniors and introduced the Class of 2006 valedictorian, Bryan Evans, and salutatorian, Chris Koehn.

During the valedictory address, Evans thanked his mother, Andrea Evans, for “not only being a great mom, but a teacher as well.”  He also thanked his family as well as the families of all the graduates.  When thanking the teachers, staff and administration of the school, he also gave special mention to his basketball coach Dale Wescott and baseball mentor David Riley.

He stressed to his fellow graduates that they could all learn through failures. 

He related how failing to hit free throws in a basketball game gave him  the desire to work harder so that he wouldn’t taste the same failure the next time.  He challenged his classmates to prepare themselves  and “live a prosperous and happy life.”

In Koehn’s address to his classmates, he explained that at times everybody feels helpless, but the experiences, knowledge and friendships that have been gained during their 12 years of school will help to cope with that feeling.

He told the graduates that he no longer saw them as his fellow classmates, but “architects, physical therapists, speech pathologists and first-grade teachers.”

As he wished his classmates well in the future, he stated, “In a few short minutes, four years of our lives will have closure, and the door to forever will open.  Class of 2006, walk through it with pride.”

By Steve Sullins
Editor

Twenty-seven Holden High School graduating seniors will receive $110,000 worth of scholarships to continue their educations at universities and colleges around the state of Missouri and the country.

Those receiving the scholarships include:  Tim Billingsley, CMSU Distinguished Scholarship, CMSU Boys State Scholarship, CMSU A+ Supplement Award, CMSU Music Service Award, CMSU All-State Choir Scholarship, Bright Flight, and Pepsi Scholarship.

Molly Burnfin, Tina Vanmeter Memorial Scholarship.  Cody Cox, Missouri Valley College Football Scholarship.

Bryan Evans, Holden Optimist Scholarship, Presidential Freedom Scholarship, Pepsi Scholarship, West Central Electric Cooperative Scholarship, Rockhurst University Dean’s Scholarship, Holden Booster Club Scholarship and Buck Riley Memorial Scholarship.

Tanner Feeback, Kansas State University Denison Award and MAASP/Walsworth Scholarship.  Amy Ferguson, Patsy Miller Terry Scholarship, Holden Ladies VFW Auxiliary Scholarship and Annie Morrison Memorial Scholarship.

Ben Graham, Buck Riley Memorial Scholarship and Holden Booster Club Scholarship.  Phillip Gudde, Bright Flight and McHoney Knights of Columbus Scholarship.

Julie Guinn, Jeanne Briscoe Taylor Scholarship, Truman State University President’s Honorary Scholarship, TSU Basketball Scholarship, TSU Academic Scholarship, Pepsi Scholarship and Holden Booster Club Scholarship.

Kenton Hartwell, CMSU Boisseau Scholarship, Holden Booster Club Scholarship and Buck Riley Memorial Scholarship.  Jessie Hood, CMSU A+ Supplement Award and CMSU Academic Excellence Scholarship.  Amy Humphries, BPOE Elks Scholarship and CMSU A+ Supplement Scholarship.

Jackie Kephart, University of MO-Columbia Columns Scholarship, Central District Principal’s Scholarship, DAR Good Citizenship Award, R.S. Mickey Award, Pepsi Scholarship, Swisher Mower & Machine Co Scholarship and Holden Booster Club Scholarship.

Chris Koehn, Holden HTA Scholarship, Presidential Freedom Scholarship, CMSU A+ Supplement Award, CMSU Board of Governor’s Scholarship, UMKC Curator’s Scholarship, Pepsi Scholarship and Bank of Holden Scholarship.

Erin Montgomery, CMSU A+ Supplement Award, CMSU Girls State Scholarship, CMSU Academic Excellence Scholarship, Northwest MO State University A+ Scholarship, NWMSU Tower Scholarship, Lori Allen Myers Memorial Scholarship and Sari Ramey Memorial Scholarship.

Jeremy Myers, Holden HTA Scholarship, AECI Technical Scholarship and Longview Community College A+ Scholarship.  Clayton Newell, CMSU A+ Supplement Award.  Nicole O’Hora, William Ramey Memorial Scholarship.
Kayla Quick, CMSU Academic Excellence Scholarship, CMSU A+ Supplement Award, CMSU Leadership Award, West Central Electric Cooperative Scholarship, Pepsi Scholarship, UMKC Housing Award, UMKC Chancellor’s Scholar Award, Bank of Holden Scholarship, Missouri Western State University Regents Academic Scholarship, Holden Booster Club Scholarship and Nancy Parks Montgomery Memorial Scholarship.

A.J. Stevens, James T. Clarke Memorial Scholarship, Horatio Alger MO Scholarship, Bank of Holden Scholarship and Mike Hough Scholarship.

Nathan Sullins, University of Missouri-Columbia Academic Excellence Award, University of Missouri-Columbia Trumpet Scholarship, University of Missouri-Columbia Voice Scholarship, Bright Flight and Holden Booster Club Scholarship.

Brandon Swartz, Northwest MO State University Tower Scholarship.   Jessica Taylor, Druscilla Krockenberger Memorial Scholarship and Bank of Holden Scholarship.

Kevin Vance, Central Methodist Dean’s Scholarship and Central Methodist Football Scholarship.  William Vance, Central Methodist Eagle’s Scholarship and Central Methodist Football Scholarship.  Ben Watterson, CMSU University Scholarship, CMSU A+ Supplement Award and CMSU Makeever Scholarship. 

Lacy Woods, CMSU Boisseau Scholarship, Donald Stowell FFA Alumni Memorial Scholarship, Velta Flick Ag Scholarship, Holden R-III Agriculture Education Scholarship, George Lesley Talley Scholarship and Purina Mills/Land O’ Lakes Purina Feeds Dealer Scholarship.

By Steve Sullins
Editor


Newly-elected  mayor Mike Wakeman completed his  initial appointments as he announced that Holden’s citizens committees were complete and that the Ward II one-year seat on the city council had been filled by Christi Stowe.

Stowe, the former news editor of the Holden Image, was one of six individuals who had received one write-in vote in the April 4 city council election.  There had been no filers for the position.

After determining five of the six receiving votes were either  not interested or ineligible, Stowe was appointed to fill the position on the council.  She was sworn in at the regular monthly meeting of the Holden City Council held last Tuesday night at City Hall.

She will inherit chairmanship of the ways and means committee and be a council member of the utilities committee.

In citizen’s committee appointments, Wakeman told the council that Earl Peacock, whose term with the Board of Public Works had expired last month, had agreed to serve up to another six months on the board.  He will be joined on the board by chairman Darwin Brower, Jim McDaniel, and Cecil Bloss.  The city council member is Butch Shore.

The membership slate for the other citizen’s committees are:  Planning and zoning board - Chuck Roberts, Jim Nippko, Dennis Mason, Bob Weddle, Wanda Brown, Jim Perkins, Jack Wharton and Kent Eubanks.  City council members are Jim Robison and Dorothy Wakeman.

Members of the park board include:  Judy Huffman, Rhonda Wakeman, Dwight Anstine, Mason, Sam Raber, Jeanne Bryant, Tammy Brown, Jeanie Henry and Shannon Robison.  City council members are Dorothy Wakeman, Chad Manford and Veronica Burt.

The merit board is comprised of Oren Henry, Justin Parsons, Homer Frisbey, Chris Peacock, Audie Mullinax and Clark Sands.

The recently-formed Clay Street renovation committee will remain intact.

The mayor charged each council chairperson to get their committee together beofre the next city council meeting to elect a chairman.  He explained that the council representative on the committees don’t have voting rights, but should act in an advisory and information-gathering capacity.

Also at the city council meeting, Wakeman stated that he planned to recommend the law firm of Kapke & Willerth L.L.C., of Independence, to handle Holden’s city attorney tasks. 

Partner Joe Willerth addressed the council, giving them an overview of what his firm  has to offer in the area of municipal law.  He stated that all attorneys in the firm would be at the city’s disposal.

Willerth is presently the city attorney for Raymore and has had experience in that area for the cities of Greenwood and Independence.  He also is attorney for the large Lakewood and Raintree developments. 

He stated that the dimension his firm would bring the city would be a broad range of expertise in all areas of municipal law to be able to advise the mayor and council.

Wakeman stated that for the present, Audara Lujen would remain as the city’s prosecutor.

In other action at the meeting, the council agreed with Wakeman that the city should take part in the annual sales tax holiday to be held the first weekend of August.  In the past, Holden has opted out of the program, but several local merchants have not charged sales tax during the holiday on their own.

During the discussion, councilwoman Brenda Stumpff explained, “Being a parent of two small children, it sure helps to have that break.”

Mayor Wakeman felt that the council should do what it could to support the local merchants by having the holiday.

Prior to the council meeting Tuesday night, a street committee meeting was held and several of the items discussed in that meeting were brought before the council by councilman Chad Manford for a vote.

Dump truck sale - The council agreed to sell the old Chevrolet dump truck without the plow to Ken and Debbie Hill of Chilhowee.  The couple had bid $850 and street commissioner Larry Miller thought was too low to sell with the plow.  After contacting the Hills, they agreed to purchase the truck without the plow.

Dump truck rental - The council gave Miller permission to enter into a rental agreement with Hertz Corporation to rent a 2000 Ford F75 dump truck with approximately 37,000 miles for the monthly rental fee of $1,500.  Miller plans to rent for three months until the new budget year begins and then execute a lease-purchase agreement for the vehicle.  He stated that 80 percent of the rental payments will go toward the $25,000 purchase price of the road-ready and safety-inspected truck.

Removal of waste for city-wide cleanup - Manford’s motion to contract Heartland Waste  to remove trash for the city’s cleanup to be held May 20 was passed unanimously by the council.  Heartland will charge $350 per truck plus disposal fees and $175 for roll-off metal containers.  Miller estimates the  total cost to be approximately $3,000.

In one other street committee concern, the council agreed to barricade a section of sidewalk at the corner of Fourth and Market Streets until the council has time to pass an ordinance condemning the walkway.  The mayor stated that he considered the situation to be dangerous and an emergency and that the liability would ultimately fall on the city.  “The city ordinance states that the property owner is responsible, but if somebody got hurt there, the city would be responsible.”  The city attorney Lujen agreed with Wakeman.

The 60-foot section is estimated to cost approximately $2,500 Shore explained.  “That’s nothing compared to a lawsuit,”  council woman Dorothy Wakeman replied.

A request from the police department to accept a bid of $2,500 from Buchanan Construction to repair the rubber membrane and metal sheetings around edges on the Holden Police Department’s roof  was accepted by the council

By Steve Sullins
Editor

  

Kingsville High School graduated 17 seniors Friday night in their 2006 commencement ceremonies held at 7:30 p.m. at the school.

The graduates, as well as families and friends gathered, heard addresses from Class of 2006 valedictorian Dakota Hobbs, and co-salutatorians Ashley Poe and Clarisa Rogers.  Also speaking at the ceremony was Carol Link, KHS language arts teacher.

In his speech, Hobbs told his classmates not to get discouraged and never give up hope.  He related the story of Snow Man, a horse with no pedigree headed for the dog food factory.  In the end, Snow Man became a champion. 
Hobbs encouraged his class, “So, you see even if you believe your life is going nowhere and you are destined for the dog food factory, you should never give up hope - you may just succeed and become the next Snow Man.”

Co-salutatorian Rogers reminisced with her classmates of good times during their school years, then gave them some advice from Mary Manin Morrissey, “Start living now.  Stop saving the good China for that special occasion.  Stop withholding your love until that special person materialized.  Every day you are alive is a special occasion.  Every minute, every breath is a gift from God.”

In her speech, co-salutatorian Ashley Poe challenged the Class of 2006 not to stop learning.  She quoted Newton D. Baker, who once said, “The man who graduated today and stops learning tomorrow is uneducated the day after.”

Poe continued, “I hope that each of us will decide to further our education in some way regardless of the format it comes in.  Education can never harm you and it can never be taken away from you.  Education is not something that will come after you - it is something you must seek.

Seven of the graduates received scholarships and awards.  They are:  Matt Brendel, VFW Scholarship.  Dakota Hobbs, Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans Scholarship, CMSU University Scholarship, Boys State Scholarship and Kingsville Stahl Speciality Scholarship.

Jason Lee Hollandsworth, Bradley Culp Memorial Scholarship.  Kelcey Renee McCloud, Nicole Bishop Memorial Scholarship, Kingsville Teachers Association Scholarship and Missouri State Teachers Association Local Chapter Scholarship.

Amanda Elizabeth McMechan, Makeever Scholarship, Kingsville Education Association Scholarship, City of Kingsville Scholarship, Farmers and Commercial Bank Scholarship and Anonymous Community Member Scholarship.

Ashley Nichole Poe, Boisseau Scholarship, City of Kingsville Scholarship and Coca Cola Scholarship.  Clarisa Kay Rogers, Daughters of the American Revolution Scholarship, Boisseau Scholarship, Bank of Holden Scholarship and Mary Call Memorial Scholarship.

By Steve Sullins
Editor


Executive Director John Roberts informed the HOPE board members of problems with parking on Second Street during Harvesters day at last Monday night’s regular board meeting.

“There have been complaints from business people on Second Street about all of the cars that park along West Second Street during Harvesters distribution day.  The patrons coming to HOPE to receive food from Harvesters are blocking parking for businesses,” said Roberts.

Roberts asked Aline Kirchhoff and Donna LaHue, director and assistant director of Harvesters to share with the board a new idea they  hope to implement that will reduce the parking problems along Second Street.

“Currently, patrons park on Second Street, then line up on the sidewalk leading to HOPE’s front door to pick up their food,” stated Kirchhoff.  The new plan is for patrons to park behind the Community Activity Center (CAC), come to the drop-off garage door located in the alley and register, then return to their cars.  They will circle around the block and come north on Olive Street to the west side of the HOPE center and stop at the garage door located there and have the food delivered to their car, added LaHue.  “The boxes of food will be pre-packed and ready to be loaded into the vehicles when people pull up to the door,” stated Kirchhoff.  “This will eliminate parking on Second Street and the long lines on the sidewalk in front of the Community Service Center (CSC) and hopefully make the distribution run smoothly.”  This new procedure will take effect in July. 

In other parking related issues Roberts informed the board the CAC volunteers believed it was imperative to have the parking lot behind the CAC graveled as soon as possible.  “The cost to put in a new culvert is $238 and will be purchased from the city and installed at no charge.  Dirt will be brought in to be deposited in several low areas and afterward the area will be prepared for the gravel.  Secretary of the board Butch Shore has secured an offer from an anonymous donor to pay for the gravel and hauling charges,” stated Roberts.  The board agreed the lot should be graveled and gave their approval to begin the project.

In other CAC business, Roberts reported that Sport Construction Midwest completed the anchoring of the floor at the CAC several weeks ago at a cost of $867.08.  This was slightly higher than the $400-$600 estimate but the work was more involved due to the separation of backings on most of the tiles.  This necessitated trimming two pieces instead of one on approximately 500 tiles.  This project was paid for by the CAC.

In financial business, Roberts told the board, “It appears at this point that HOPE’s Johnson County United Way funding for 2007 will either be scant or not forthcoming.  Funding for the current year, however, will not be affected.  The reason for the one-year cessation is HOPE was randomly selected this year to be reviewed by JOCOUW’s partnering agency, the Combined Federal Campaign, and our mandatory audit had not been completed.  A letter from Westbrook & Company had been enclosed in our application stating our audit was being processed by their firm, but that was not accepted.  I will be investigating this matter further to see if an appeal is possible”.

In other financial news, Roberts informed the board that HOPE owes money to FEMA and the IRS. 

The IRS debt is from a tax penalty and the money owed FEMA came from a grant received by HOPE last year.  “The grant was for $2,500 and went primarily toward utility and food assistance to needy in the area.  All monies are earmarked for specific purchases.  Either through a misunderstanding or unclear instructions, items not on the “approved” list were purchased.  A review was conducted and a $500 return notice has been issued.  I plan to appeal the charge back.  At this point, I’m not certain expenditure instructions were precise and none of the money was what reasonably could be considered as misused,” stated Roberts.

Roberts went on to tell the board that thanks to some major contributions from board treasurer Dorothy Salsman and board member Fred Christenson, the first NAP project is ready for audit.  This is significant because it will close out the ‘01 project and make HOPE eligible to submit their current NAP application.  “A two-year NAP application for HOPE is currently underway.  The majority of the legwork is completed, but there still is considerable work to do.  The target date for the application to be submitted is Friday, May 19,” added Roberts.

In other NAP news, Roberts traveled to Jefferson City on April 20 to attend a seminar about the NAP application process.    “I came away from the discussions with a positive outlook on some concerns I had about our eligibility, our reserves and a possible forced spend-down of funds to meet eligibility requirements.  Our application will be completed in mid-May, but credits were gone last year by July.  Timing, approvals, requests for additional information and/or amounts asked for, all factor in,” stated Roberts.

Kirchhoff also brought before the board concerns regarding the need for a custodian at the CSC to help  with the Clothes Closet, carrying stock, and to help on Harvesters day.  A volunteer already performs these duties and Kirchhoff asked that he be put on the payroll as an employee.  After some discussion,  the board approved a motion to hire this volunteer as a custodian for the CSC.

By Dana Neubert
News Staff


Veterans To Sell Poppies On May 20

Members of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 5844 and its Ladies Auxiliary will be distributing Buddy Poppies in Holden from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on May 20.

According to Post Commander Keith Chester, “VFW by-laws require that the proceeds from our distribution of Buddy Poppies must be used to benefit disabled and needy veterans and the widows and orphans of deceased veterans right here in the community.”

In 1923, the VFW was the first veterans organization to promote a nationally organized campaign for the annual distribution of poppies assembled by disabled or hospitalized veterans.  That tradition continues today, with more than 14 million poppies assembled by paid, disabled and hospitalized veterans each year.  The members of the VFW and its Ladies Auxiliary raise more than $15 million annually from the distribution of Buddy Poppies.

Project Grad Meets To Plan ‘07 Party

 A meeting for 2007 Project Grad was held on Sunday, April 23 at the elementary/intermediate library with 24 parents and students attending.

On the evening of graduation, the class of 2007 will be traveling to Aaron’s Family Fun Center in Belton. 

Candle fundraising orders were turned in.  Project Grad will be hosting middle school dances in August, October and February, operating the dunking booth at the Holden Fall Fiesta on September 28, 29 and 30, and picking up trash after all home football games.  Their main fundraiser will be to park cars at all Chiefs’ home games.  The games begin in August and sign-up sheets are available.  They need 22 people for each game.  Please call Gerilynn Hoover at 732-4059 or Larry Ruble at 732-3914 to sign up for the games. 

The next 2007 Project Grad meeting will be held on Sunday, May 21 at 6 p.m. at the elementary/intermediate library.  All seniors and their parents are encouraged to attend the meetings and to assist with the fundraising activities.


City-Wide Garage Sale Set For June 3

The annual city-wide garage sale sponsored by the Holden Image and the Holden Chamber of Commerce will be held Saturday, June 3.

In order to participate, you must have your garage sale ad to the Holden Image no later than Thursday, May 25. Proceeds from the advertising will go toward paying advertising costs for out-of-town publications.

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