May 24, 1946

• Mr. and Mrs. Leo Murphy, who live three miles southeast of Langdon, suffered a heavy loss by fire Saturday afternoon when their garage, a corncrib, a brooder house, 500 bushels of corn, and over 300 baby chicks went up in flames. Since no one was home, it is only surmised that it may have started from an oil brooder stove.

• A barn on the old Fischer place, just across Rock Creek from the business district of Rock Port and owned by Mr. and Mrs. Earl H. Heckel, was destroyed by a fire, along with several tons of hay and a hog in a pen adjoining the structure.

• Miss Frances Irene Harrington, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Harrington of Rock Port, was discharged May 15th from the U.S. Naval separation center at the naval barracks in Washington, D.C. She has been serving with the WAVES since she reported for active duty in the navy on April 6, 1944.

• Mrs. Mabel Newlon last week completed 21 years of teaching in the Rock Port schools. By doing so, Mrs. Newlon has established a record which has been equalled by no other teacher in the local schools, so far as records show.

May 27, 1971

• Darrell Shelton, representing Rock Port in Livestock Judging in his senior year, has set a high standard of consistence. At the fall invitational, he was top individual in hog judging and second high in sheep. At the District livestock judging competition, he was third high in all areas of judging of the 160 boys competing. He was fifth high individual out of 180 at State. This is the most consistent judging record that any student has made in judging from the Rock Port school.

• Phillip Buttercase of Watson recently completed the tractor training school in Sidney, Iowa. The school was held to qualify 14- and 15-year-olds to operate certain types of farm machinery as prescribed in the Federal Hazardous-Occupation Order.

• Big Lake has shown an attendance increase in 1971. According to the Missouri State Park Board, Big Lake’s attendance for April 1970 was 11,485 and in 1971 was 12,417, an 8% increase.

• Atchison County and all the cities in the county with street oiling programs are going to be in considerable trouble this summer because of increased prices for street oil. The price has risen from 13.15 cents to 17 cents per gallon.

• Virgil Walter, postmaster of the Rock Port Post Office, will serve his last day in that capacity Friday, having reached the mandatory retirement age. Walter has served 14 years in civil service in the department and had three years military service.

May 23, 1996

• Just when you thought the Jays’ track team couldn’t get any better, they did. The Blue Jays won their fourth consecutive State Track Title. Not only did they win the title, they did it in fine fashion by scoring 107 team points (breaking the old record of 83.5). Those 107 points are the most any team in any class has ever scored in state competition. The 4×100 relay of Clint Gayler, Dana Brion, Tyler Gebhards, and Ryan Meyerkorth set a new state record of 44.30. Dana Brion also set a new state record in the long jump with a leap of 23’1/2”. Also traveling to State to represent Rock Port was Lady Jay junior Mandy Shaw who ran the 3200 meter race, placing 11th with a time of 14:26.