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By KAITY HOLTMAN Staff writer, Maryville Daily Forum Posted on Feb 6, 2015 Nearly 300 representatives from across the northwest Missouri region gathered in Jefferson City on Tuesday, Feb. 3 and Wednesday, Feb. 4 as part of Great Northwest Days. Kicking off the two-day event was the introduction of the group to the House of Representatives and the Senate. The group split into two to represent in both places and were announced and welcomed. Counties represented included Andrew, Atchison, Buchanan, Caldwell, Daviess, Dekalb, Gentry, Grundy, Holt, Livingston, Linn, Mercer, Nodaway, Putnam, Sullivan and Worth counties. At the luncheon, the group heard from four panelists in the areas the group had identified as priorities for this region. Those areas included transportation, economic development, infrastructure, and education. Michelle Watkins, Transportation and Planning Director for the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) focused on budget cuts that had been anticipated and have now arrived. She said MoDOT funding has been cut to $325 million, which means the focus will be on maintaining primary roads but that supplemental roads would likely suffer. Maintenance will be continued on primary roads, but new projects are not in the plans, according to Watkins. “From what they told us in a meeting recently, that means 136 and 71 are considered primary roads in Nodaway County and all other roads are supplementary,” Nodaway County Commissioner Bob Westfall said. Max Summers, University of Missouri Extension Transition team leader, focused on economic development and specifically the Community Foundation of Northwest Missouri. His focus was on providing opportunities to young people to encourage their return to rural communities. Randy Railsback, executive director of the Green Hills Regional Planning Commission, echoed Summers’ message about investing in young professionals and businesses as he discussed efforts to increase broadband across northern Missouri. Railsback stressed that in order for businesses to succeed and thrive, the ability to connect with the rest of the country online was a key and that it needed to be made a priority for the region. Commissioner of Education Dr. Margie Vandeven spoke of goals to make Missouri’s education top-notch. She announced that all Missouri high school juniors will now be able to take the ACT test once at no charge. Vandeven also discussed her department’s focus on investing in both students and teachers in an effort to be in the top 10 states in education rankings by 2020. City Manager Greg McDanel recognizes that many of these priorities match that of the Maryville city council. One specific priority mentioned repeatedly was bringing youth back to rural communities. “I think it’s been in the city’s long-term plan for a while to continue to bring youth back to the community,” McDanel said. “Rural university communities tend to suffer from students getting their degrees and leaving, but the more high-tech jobs, the more opportunities we can provide, the more reasons we can give them to come back here and raise their families.” That afternoon, the Leadership Maryville group and others attended a Higher Education Hearing, where Dr. John Jasinksi addressed legislators about the state of Northwest Missouri State University. Jasinski spoke among his colleagues from Truman State University, Missouri Western State University, the University of Missouri system, and others. Jasinski brought up positive aspects and the continued progress of the university and noted that any funding needed this year would be for routine maintenance of the campus facilities. An evening reception welcomed northwest Missouri region delegates and legislators from across the state in the Capitol Plaza Hotel Ballroom. Residents of each county set up booths to showcase features their area has to offer. The City of Maryville, Nodaway County Economic Development, Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce and Leadership Maryville worked together to showcase Mozingo Lake Recreation Park and Northwest Missouri State University, as well as manufacturers and businesses from across Nodaway County. Maryville Chamber of Commerce director Jordyn Swalley said that hosting a booth was a great way to make leaders aware of what Nodaway County has to offer. “I think the main thing that I took away from this event is pride,” Swalley said. “Pride when it comes to Dr. John Jasinski explaining the accomplishments Northwest Missouri State University has made even with a 21 percent financial decrease from the state; pride in handing out giveaways to our state representatives & senators from local manufacturers and businesses that are expanding or thriving; and pride in our past and present representatives and senators as other Missouri figures expressed the deep amount of respect they have for them.” Food, music and community booths created an environment of fellowship, networking and productive conversations among northwest region residents and legislators from across the state. Half of the General Assembly was present or represented at the reception. Sixteen senators and 87 representatives were present, and office staff represented an additional 22 legislators. “The northwest region certainly had a strong, unified presence, and this was a great opportunity to talk about the needs of the ‘Great Northwest,’” McDanel said. “Those needs usually include sales tax, and funding of K-12 and higher education. Representative (Allen) Andrews and Senator (Dan) Hegeman have our interests at heart, but others may not realize our needs … this was a good time to go down and speak our piece.” A regional breakfast on Wednesday featured speaker Dr. Tim Crowley, who provides leadership development workshops throughout the region. His motivating speech focused the importance of story telling to promote small communities and businesses. According to Crowley, statistics show that 75 percent of conversations in the workplace are negative. He challenged everyone in the room to work to change that and to encourage one another. A group from the Leadership Maryville class and members of the Maryville Chamber of Commerce took a behind-the-scenes tour with former District 1 Representative Mike Thomson and Joe Hegeman, intern for current Representative Allen Andrews. The tour included the floors of the Senate and House, and the dome of the Capitol Building. “This truly was an experience that not all get  Continue Reading »

Posted on Jan 21, 2015 by Tony Brown MARYVILLE, Mo. — Employees at the Federal-Mogul Motorparts factory in Maryville recently celebrated a couple of milestones. First of all, workers were recognized with time-in-service awards during the company’s annual banquet held at the Maryville Country Club. The second distinction marked the completion of 6 million work hours without a time-lost accident. A luncheon and shirt giveaway commemorated the safety achievement. The plant’s last time-lost accident occurred Dec. 10, 1999. Time-in-service recognitions included 45 employees with a combined total of 890 years on the job. The group was congratulated by Rick Owens, plant manager and general manager of the Federal-Mogul facility in Boaz, Alabama. Those receiving awards included: 30 years — Mark Wolfer, supervisor, forging and assembly; Rodney Saville, shipping/receiving; James Mattson, inner tie rod end technician; Tad Henggeler, center link/drag link technician; Connie Wonderly, quality control technician; Tom Wilson, MRO coordinator; Tim Henson, quality control manager; Connie Loomis, packaging technician; and Raymond (Skeeter) Cross, forging technician. 20 years — Randy Sanders, maintenance supervisor; Matt Abrams, electrician; Keith Schmitz, forging technician; Dana Roberts, Robert Saxton, Randy Smyser, Jerry Deen and David Wilmes, center link/drag link technicians; Steve Coleman, Janette Oberhauser, Chris Schenkel, Jason Thompson, Melisha David, and Steve Auffert, tie rod machining technicians; David Wilmes, quality assurance supervisor; Tony Volner, John Deere assembly technician; Todd Rickabaugh, team leader-tie rod machining; Willis Spire and Greg Hawkins, coating line technicians; Tim Spire, component technician; Todd Walker and Robert Gaskill, maintenance technicians; Debbie Collins and Donnie Drummond, shipping/receiving technicians; Renea Smyser, packaging technician; Robert Hannigan, materials manager; Chris Baldwin, Goss technician. 15 years — Renee Wolf, plant controller 10 years ­— Shannon Staples and Keith Shimak, forging technicians; Ken Petersen, manufacturing engineer; Jeff Smith, quality control technician; Jaclyn Coate, accounting clerk. 5 years — Geoff Scott, tie rod machining technician; Jeff Sanders, large tie rod end steering support technician; Travis Wymore, large tie rod end technician.

Posted on Jan 9, 2015 by Tony Brown Maryville Daily Forum According to a municipal staff report attached to the agenda for Monday’s Maryville City Council meeting, Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp. U.S.A. has announced plans to undertake a 100,800 square-foot expansion that will include upgraded machining operations and new equipment. The report stated that the $25 million expansion could create up to 30 new jobs in conjunction with weekend shifts. In the report, City Manager Greg McDanel stated that Missouri law authorizes municipalities to issue Industrial Development Revenue bonds, also known as Chapter 100 bonds, to provide tax incentives to facilitate such expansion projects. At Monday’s regular council session, McDanel is expected to recommend that the council adopt a resolution in support of issuing municipal Industrial Development Revenue Bonds in an amount not to exceed $25 million to finance the Kawasaki expansion. McDanel stated that the expansion aligns with the council’s stated goal of enlarging the city’s tax base by “pursuing strategic economic development and private investment.” IDBs may be issued by any Missouri municipality to finance the cost of offices, warehouses, distribution facilities and industrial plants. In conjunction with such projects, bond proceeds can be used to construct or install buildings, fixtures and machinery. There are two primary reasons to issue IDBs, McDanel said. First, when the bonds are tax-exempt, they may possess lower interest rates than those obtained through conventional financing. The second reason is that property taxes on bond-financed property may be abated because legal title to the property and improvements is held by the city during the financing period. In a typical IDB transaction, the municipality holds fee title to the project and leases it to the company, thereby making it exempt from real and personal property taxes during the bonding period. IDBs can be issued as revenue bonds that do not require voter approval and are payable solely from revenues received from the project. In other words, the municipality merely acts as a conduit for the financing. At then end of the bonding term, the property is transferred back to the company for a nominal fee. Building materials and other real property improvements financed with IDBs may also be exempt from state and local sales tax. The Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp. U.S.A. plant operated just outside Maryville’s south city limits for the past 25 years before voluntarily annexing into the city in December. The annexation, which required no extension of city services, will provide the city with significant new tax revenue from sales and property taxes on the facility as it now exists. Anticipated annual revenue totals $134,952 for the city proper, $35,738 for Maryville Parks & Recreation and $15,770 for the Maryville Public Library.

Dec. 11, 2014 JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri’s Department of Economic Development has been named the number one economic development agency in the country by the nation’s premier international brokerage and consulting firms, Gov. Jay Nixon announced today. According to AEDI/Pollina Corporate, this is the first time the organization has formally ranked state agencies making Missouri the first to receive the distinction. “I congratulate director Mike Downing and the dedicated team at the Missouri Department of Economic Development on this prestigious honor,” Gov. Nixon said. “They, along with the many local partners, work tirelessly to promote our state as the best place to do business—and after a record year for job creation and capital investment, this distinction is well-deserved.” To develop the Top 10 State Economic Development Organizations list, AEDI/Pollina Corporate evaluated states’ economic development organization’s performance, and awarded points based on marketing of the state to employers, efforts for attracting new business and assisting existing state employers.  Missouri led the nation with a score of 112. Utah earned the number 10 spot with a score of 84. “When it came to picking a winner, Missouri made a strong case for receiving top honors,” said Brent A. Pollina, Esq., Vice President of AEDI/Pollina Corporate.  “With its strong project management team, extensive incentive programs, clear marketing message, and knowledgeable leadership, Missouri has made a clear and convincing case for being our choice for top Economic Development department.” The designation is based in large part on the AEDI/Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States study, which examines 32 factors relative to state efforts to be pro-business. Missouri moved up the chart to number 8 on this year’s AEDI/Pollina Corporate Top Pro-Business States list, one spot up from 2013. The selection process is based on a comprehensive approach that looks at job retention and creation efforts of all 50 states and examines more than 30 factors relative to state efforts to create business-friendly environments. After calling for a streamlining of Missouri’s economic incentive programs in his 2013 State of the State Address, Gov. Nixon signed into a law a comprehensive strategy to support economic growth and create career opportunities for Missourians. Missouri Works consolidated four of its business development incentives into a single program with uniform of definitions and a streamlined applications process to cut through red tape. Missouri Works also enables more small businesses and businesses in rural areas to participate as well as provides targeted benefits to existing Missouri businesses. In addition, Missouri Works consolidated the state’s workforce training programs into a single, streamlined program that is more closely aligned with the state’s other economic development programs. It also targets workforce development resources more efficiently toward job placement and training for job-seekers. In fiscal year 2014, Missouri experienced the best year on record for job creation and capital investments, partnering with dozens of growing companies to announce 121 expansion projects, which included plans to create a total of 28,198 new jobs and invest more than $6.35 billion in the Show-Me State. During that same time, Missouri landed the largest expansion in state history when Cerner announced plans to create up to 16,000 new jobs with a $4.45 billion investment. Missouri’s statewide efforts towards business development consists of a public-private partnership, which is divided by function between the Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED) and a private sector partner, the Hawthorn Foundation and its wholly owned subsidiary, the Missouri Partnership. DED, along with the 13 contracted international offices, work to attract foreign direct investment to the state, facilitate exporting for Missouri businesses, as well as focus on business expansion, retention, and workforce development. The role of the Missouri Partnership is to attract businesses to the state as well as manage related marketing. The Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED) and its partners work with local economic development agencies throughout the state, as well as community colleges and workforce development agencies to improve opportunities for business development and foster economic growth.  DED’s divisions and boards, including but not limited to the Missouri Technology Corporation, the Division of Business and Community Development, Missouri Development Finance Board, and the Division of Workforce Development, also provide crucial financial support to sustain a healthy and diverse competitive business community. Entrepreneurs or businesses interested in learning about these resources should visit Mo.gov.   ###

By Katheryn Rice, Nodaway News Leader November 20, 2014 Jessi Althajmer of Solingen, Germany, wanted an internship with a US manufacturer to improve her grasp of technical English. She had planned to work in Chicago, but a friend of her father, Theri Paraskevas, GM of EJP, recommended Nucor LMP Steel, Inc., Maryville, for the internship. EJP has sold machinery to Nucor, so Paraskevas was familiar with Maryville. The size and safety of the town appealed to the Althajmers, so he contacted Kevin Van de Ven, Nucor LMP general manager, who approved giving Althajmer the contact information. Althajmer began her job at the Maryville plant on September 30. She will be in Maryville for 10 months. She started with basic safety training, learning Nucor standards and the different divisions in the whole plant. She has now been assigned to different projects for the plant, including customer comments where she compares specs, internal auditing and the development of a new project management system. This is Althajmer’s second time to live in the United States. At 16, she was a foreign exchange student in Arizona. Her first experience was a total immersion in English, as she was limited to speaking German in calls with her parents. This time, thanks to Skype and the internet, she can converse in German with family and friends. She has met two German tennis players at Northwest Missouri State University. She started taking English in fifth grade, but has found that being in the US has improved her fluency. After completing high school, she completed a three-year industrial clerk apprenticeship. During this, she worked three days a week and was in school two days. This prepared her to see how the business worked and to be an all-around facility worker. “I love it,” Althajmer says about living in Maryville and staying with Sue Bostwick. “Overall, the people, town and work are way better than I expected.” Her hometown is about the size of St. Joseph. She is finding Maryville friendlier and easier to get to know. So far her experiences in Maryville have included a Northwest Bearcat Football game and tailgating experience, eating at Simply Siam, A & G Restaurant and Carson’s which she thinks of as a typical American experience. She’s signed up at the Maryville Community Center to exercise. She’s been to the Palms and Burny’s; went to Burny’s in costume for Halloween. She claims both bars are different from German bars. Althajmer has traveled to Omaha for a wedding, Kansas City for a Chiefs football game, Weston for the shops and hiking, St. Joseph to eat at Texas Roadhouse, where she was amazed at throwing the peanut shells on the floor. For Thanksgiving, Althajmer will be meeting some German friends, who reside in Michigan, in New York City for the holiday. Althajmer’s plans for her internship are to improve her English, travel and see as much of the country as possible and talk her parents into coming over to pick her up and let her show them some of the US. Upon her return to Germany, Althajmer plans to work at her father’s company, Schmitz Apparate und Maschinenbau, in Solingen. She will use her grasp of technical English at trade fairs to explain aspects of the machinery that the company sells. Nucor-LMP also uses machines similar to those, so her father is interested in how they’re used and what customers think. Jessi Althajmer of Solingen, Germany, has started a 10-month internship with Nucor-LMP, Maryville.

By TONY Brown News editor, Maryville Daily Forum Posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2014 6:07 am Maryville’s largest employer is about to become an actual part of the city of Maryville. City Manager Greg McDanel and Kawasaki Motors Mfg. Corp. U.S.A. Plant Manager and Vice President Steve Bratt jointly announced at Monday’s City Council meeting that the 1,100-employee small-motor factory is to be incorporated into the city limits. The 800,000 square-foot plant is located just south of town near the intersection of South Main Street and Highway 71. The “self-annexation,” which is to become official in about a month, significantly increases Kawasaki’s tax liability, but will swell municipal coffers by providing new property tax revenue for the city proper along with the Maryville Public Library and Maryville Parks & Recreation, both set up as quasi-independent agencies. In addition, since Kawasaki operates under a “direct pay” sales tax agreement with the state of Missouri, the city will now realize additional sales tax revenue as well. Bratt said Kawasaki’s decision to request annexation was rooted in a desire to fulfill its “corporate responsibility” to the city on whose outskirts it has operated for the past 25 years, especially in the wake of the Energizer battery plant closure in 2013. “We are proud to be a part of Maryville,” Bratt said. “We’re just not in Maryville, and we would like to take this opportunity to join the city.” For complete details about the proposed Kawasaki annexation see Wednesday’s report in the Maryville Daily Forum.

Jim Fall Posted: Wednesday, October 1, 2014 9:28 am The miracle of Mozingo is revisited Jim Fall maryvilledailyforum.com | 0 comments It was a sunny autumn afternoon, pretty much 20 years ago, that I first realized that something wonderful was in the making for Maryville and northwest Missouri. Certainly, I was not doing the first story I had written about the ongoing development of the 3,000-acre city outdoor recreational facility being built east on Highway 136. Oh no, I had written many prior pieces about the planning that had gone into the whole idea, about the acquisition of the land, about the importance of developing a more stable water source for the city, about the recreational potential presented by the rapidly filling 1,000-acre lake or by the emerging 18-hole championship golf course, much less the RV park, the primitive camp ground or the several other recreational amenities already underway or in the planning stages. It was an exciting time, and even some of the opposition which had slowed the process over the years had begun to evaporate. I was struck by the fishing possibilities the lake itself presented, along with the boating and other water sports. But what really had me excited was the new golf course. And what a golf course it could — would — become. I am not sure Don Sechrest, the Mozingo course’s original designer, or even Ron Darnell, who came on board as course superintendent a year before it opened, really could have imagined then what it would have become today. Darnell admitted as much Tuesday afternoon as he proudly conducted a tour similar to several earlier ones he had taken me on back in 1994. Only this time, we were inspecting the construction progress on the new Tom Watson-designed youth course rapidly nearing its own completion. To say Tuesday’s tour was an eye-opener would be a dramatic understatement. I had seen it from around the edges. I had visited with Ron, and with Assistant City Manager Ryan Heiland, who oversees the Mozingo Lake Recreation Area for the city, but I had no idea. With U.S. Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson calling the shots, I knew it would be first class. I was not disappointed. It is truly going to be another Miracle at Mozingo. Carved from the same rolling hills that gave birth to the existing championship course, this extraordinary new course is designed specifically for teaching youngsters the glorious game, and life. Rest assured, it is not your average golfer’s idea of a little par-3 pitch-and-putt layout. Not even remotely. It is a championship golf course, designed specifically for the instruction and maturity of our next generation of golfers, built to exact USGA standards. Carved from the rough terrain that looked like a golf course to Tom Watson the first time he saw it, it has been created in that image to perfection by crews from the same construction company that built the original Mozingo course 20 years ago. The workmen are delicate craftsmen in their own right who demand the same exact perfection as the course’s designer, only they work with dump trucks, bulldozers, Bobcats and back-hoes. There was a whirlwind of activity Tuesday after Watson made an unannounced visit to check on the progress. Even during the hour or so he was on site, his attention to detail was evident. He approved final details of the large practice green that will be a significant feature of the facility; he discussed placing a couple of shelters in strategic locations. Heiland said he never even skipped a beat talking about how many tons of specially mixed sand would be spread on the surfaces of the four greens that would be completed by the end of the day — 250 tons on each, in case you’re wondering. Weather permitting, the projected seeding will not be delayed too much beyond the anticipated Oct. 1 start date. Each hole, green, fairway and all, will be done in unison so the carefully designed watering system can be utilized from the very beginning. The four-inch main water line that supplies the new course will be connected to the same water sources as the main Mozingo layout. It seems hard to imagine such an ideal project here. But it really shouldn’t be. Maryville is a wonderful place, with caring, generous people. A dedicated few took the lead at first and turned this project into a community effort — and the community has risen mightily to the occasion. Just another Miracle in Maryville. http://www.maryvilledailyforum.com/opinion/columnists/article_45f253aa-4977-11e4-869a-bb6914fb3f7e.html

Maryville Daily Forum Posted: Wednesday, September 17, 2014 9:51 am | Updated: 11:44 am, Wed Sep 17, 2014. MARYVILLE, Mo.— Northwest Missouri State University is included on U.S. News and World Report’s list of “2015 Best Colleges” and ranks as the top moderately selective regional university in Missouri. U.S. News ranked Northwest at No. 80 on its list of “Best Regional Universities” in the Midwest, which includes all public and private universities in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota. In addition to being ranked as the top moderately selective regional university in the state, Northwest ranked third among Missouri’s public regional universities, trailing only Truman State University and Missouri State University. When compared to its peers in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association, only the University of Nebraska-Kearney ranks higher than Northwest. To develop its rankings, U.S. News analyzes data such as freshman retention, graduation rates, class sizes, students’ ACT and SAT scores, financial resources and alumni giving. According to U.S. News, Northwest scores well with a student-to-faculty ratio of 22-to-1, and 45 percent of classes at Northwest are smaller than 20 students. Northwest’s freshman retention rate of near 70 percent places the university at the top of moderately selective institutions in Missouri and in the 66th percentile of its national peer group. Northwest is a coeducational, primarily residential four-year university offering a broad range of undergraduate and selected graduate programs. It boasts a 59.2 percent graduation rate, which is about 20 percent higher than the national average. In addition, 98 percent of Northwest bachelor’s degree earners and 99 percent of master’s degree earners secure employment or continue their education within six months of graduation, according to the most recent data. Furthermore, its vibrant and diverse learning community offers more than 150 student organizations, and textbooks and a laptop are included in tuition, which is among the lowest in the state, saving students an estimated $7,200 over four years. Northwest also offers 1,200 student employment positions, allowing students to build professional skills through its internationally benchmarked student employment program. Northwest also places a high emphasis on laboratory- and experiential-based learning to help graduates jumpstart their careers. Students have opportunities to build their resumes with experiences on campus in nearly every area of study, including the Horace Mann Laboratory School, National Public Radio affiliate KXCV, the RT Wright Laboratory Farm, Mozingo Outdoor Education Recreation Area, the internationally ranked Dean L. Hubbard Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship or Knacktive, a student-driven integrated digital marketing communications agency. Northwest’s enrollment is 6,573 students, as of the first day of classes, a 3.5 percent increase since last fall. That total includes 1,333 first-time freshmen, a 2.9 percent increase from the first day of classes last fall. Northwest also recorded a 100 percent increase in its enrollment of international students, and graduate school enrollment is up 31 percent this fall. To view U.S. News’ “2015 Best Colleges,” visit www.usnews.com/education.

Nodaway Newsleader August 2014 In June 1989, Tim Melvin along with his Kawasaki associates, produced the first small industrial engine in the Maryville facility. That engine was started and then packed away as a historic artifact of the beginnings of Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corporation, USA’s Maryville plant. The engine was unpacked this summer, lubricated and on the second pull restarted 25 years later. Many of the original employees of the Maryville Kawasaki plant followed the special engine in a long parade entry during this year’s Nodaway County Fair Parade. “The gentleman that started it said, ‘it purred like a kitten,’”said Melvin. The celebration of the plant’s 25th year climaxes this week with an all-employee appreciation day on August 21, including a catered meal and a commemorative gift; on Friday, August 22, a special event including tours of the production line and lunch for Kawasaki officials, community leaders, vendors and customers and then a community open house event from 9 to 11 am, Saturday, August 23, that will feature videos of production lines. Melvin was among those first employees, which by the end of 1989 numbered 150. Currently 43 employees have the distinction of being the charter group. There are over 1,100 full-time and contract laborers today which fill the orders for small engines by working three shifts. Melvin started as a assembly line supervisor; there were two assembly lines and now there are 10. Through the 25 years of growing pains, Melvin notes the high point of his work career at Kawasaki would be the the management team’s dedication to the workforce. “Every time there has been a downturn in our economy” said Melvin. “The management team is shifting gears and keeping us here.” Melvin said that it was obvious the company had a long-term vision. “Kawasaki is here for the long run,” he remembered of the leadership. “It was like they were saying, ‘What can we do, we don’t want to lose theses people. We don’t want to lay offs.’ So they brought work down from Lincoln.” The establishing of the Foreign Trade Zone at the Maryville plant in November 1989, allowed for expansions of their facility over 10 times through the years. Today’s incoming shipments of materials equal four to five containers from Japan and Thailand per week, plus five to six trucks per day. During the peak season, which is usually October through March, there could be outbound 30 trucks per day. The Maryville plant has assembled small engines for ATVs, machined parts for jet skis and robots through the years. Earlier this summer the Maryville workforce produced the eighth-millionth small engine unit. An engine that is used for lawn, garden, turf and commercial use. The first million engines were made in six years, but the last million were made between January 2012 and March 2014. The engine produced in Maryville is also used for floor buffers and in Japan for rice pickers. Melvin noted another one of the positive moves that the Kawasaki leadership made was in June 1995, with the addition of a research and development department to the Maryville plant. Prior to that, all the R&D was done in Japan. By having the R&D so close to the customer base and production line allowed quicker innovation. Today’s market demands are met by reducing the time lag of R&D to communicate with production. Since that move, Maryville’s R&D has designed and engineered six different engines that were in turn manufactured in Maryville. “Now our R&D mows test grounds at Mozingo, both airports and the area between the plant and the highway,” said Melvin. Melvin summed up his personal feeling about the 25-year milestone that the facility reaches this week. “This has been a great source of personal pride for me; seeing this big ‘ol empty building that has grown and expanded,“ said Melvin.

With the Tom Watson Junior Golf Course officially under construction after its groundbreaking ceremony June 19, one Maryville man has stepped up to make a crucial contribution. Orval Heywood, who cares deeply about the course and its potential impact on the community and the sport, has made a $60,000 commitment to the project. “I wanted to do something for (Mozingo Golf Professional) Kyle Easter and do something for the course, so I decided that whatever it took, that’s what it’s going to be,” Heywood said. “They’ve been real good to me here; they bring me my golf carts,” he chuckled. Heywood’s generosity will go toward a large practice green to be located near the center of the nine-hole youth course. A miscommunication between Tom Watson’s course design team and the contractor meant funds for the green were not included in the original $520,000 budget. “We actually had a cost overrun on the design where the contractor didn’t see something that Watson had wanted, which is the practice area,” said Dr. Bruce Twaddle, a local dentist who is heading up fundraising for the project. “It’s a green that’s about three times the size of a normal green.” Although Heywood’s initial proposal was for the money to go toward building a shelter on the current 18-hole course, Easter suggested to Heywood that the junior course was where the need was. The 93-year-old Heywood tees off at noon every weather-permitting weekday to play the front nine holes at Mozingo before wrapping up his session around 2 p.m. and chatting it up in the clubhouse. “I’ve been playing at Mozingo almost since the day this course started,” Heywood said. “I played in Bedford and Tarkio before I moved here, so I’ve put a few days in. “I’m going on 94-years-old, so I figured I’d better do something before something happens to me.” Much like the excitement Twaddle has expressed for the project in recent weeks, Heywood’s enthusiasm for the Tom Watson Junior Golf Course is obvious. “As far as that junior course is concerned, it’s going to be something big before they get through with it,” Heywood said. “To get the schools started with it and everything, there’s no telling how big it can get.” With a number of years hitting the links under his belt, Heywood still navigates the course — or half of it — almost every day. “I don’t know what I’d do without golf if I couldn’t play,” Heywood said. “It’s about all I can do anymore. It keeps me going.”