The first day of school for the Bolivar School District is August 20, and this year, it will have a new leader at the helm. In February, Bolivar Schools announced that Dr. Michael Methvin was named the new superintendent after Dr. Richard Asbill announced he was retiring at the end of the year.

After serving the community as the Regional Prosecutor for Child Support, John Parks is retiring. Parks has had the position since 2003 and has served the counties of Polk, Dallas, Hickory, Cedar, and Benton. Friday, July 26, colleagues, friends, and family, honored Parks at a reception at the Polk County courthouse. Stepping into the position is Jill Espelien.

In 1945 while Americans celebrated victory in Europe and Japan, back home, the newly formed Rural Electric Administration had put the brakes on its goal of providing electricity to every farmer in Missouri. Rationing and shortages of materials had held the focus of the nation for four long years. Now the REA was poised to begin an electrical revolution on the farm. Towns and cities had access to electricity but the farming communities had such sparse populations that they did not produce as much revenue per mile of line, therefore they went mostly unserved. Around 10% of the farms in the area had electricity. Twelve men from the Bolivar area were faced with a daunting task. They had to build the Southwest Electric Cooperative from the ground up by becoming its charter members. Talking up the benefits to thrifty farmers who had just survived the Great Depression, they were able to convince them to pay a $5 membership fee and the new members also encouraged their neighbors to sign up as well. Three members per mile were required if the REA was going to fund fully. The project that WWII had halted the progress of. But with the end of the war, came a demand for change. At one time, four thousand customers were on the waiting list to get electrical lines leading to their farms.

Oct. 7-11

Deaths

DEATHS

Bolivar Technical College is thrilled to announce its Fall Food Trucks event series, kicking off Oct. 1, featuring a variety of popular food trucks serving up delicious eats throughout the month. This event is open to the public and will take place at the Bolivar Technical College campus, giving students, staff and the community a chance to enjoy some of the region's best food truck fare.