Pumpkin Center Charlie’s Girl: A glimmer of hope is shining

by Kay Wilson

This week’s reporting of the Mozingo Advisory Board made me smile.

The smile was not generated because the board’s request for Maryville city staff to figure out a way to spend some dollars toward the purchase and placement of rip-rap along the shoreline of Mozingo Lake. However, I did find great pleasure in the fact the staff did address the possibility of the future of Maryville’s, and the entire county’s, one and only water source being jeopardized without steps to maintain the shoreline of the lake.

The lake should last 140 years before the run-off of the 3,000 acres lying north of the water line totally silts in the lake into a cat-tail, frog hole. Good enough for me and for most of us here.

But the glimmer of hope that brought a smile to my face was the word, “if.” City staff addressed the board about the potential of saving the iconic silo near the present clubhouse. The sentence actually says in our report, “If the on-site silo is to be demolished….” which to the untrained eye would not look that promising in the retaining of the silo. But sometimes, I look for the smallest reason to have hope for one of my causes. The word “if” fits that bill.

To reinterate from a previous column, the silo, which has probably stood since the ‘60s, is the structure everyone first sees when traveling on 136 and looking toward the lake. It towers above all other buildings and the silver dome glistens in the sunlight.

Plus the silo is a representative icon of the many family farms that were sacrificed for the construction of the 1,000 acre lake that is not only a jewel in the region’s crown of tourism offerings, but it is Maryville and

Nodaway County citizens’ source for safe, drinkable water.

Many of us remember not that many years ago, when during a summer drought, the emergency plan to keep Maryville citizens hydrated, and somewhat bathed, was to haul in water by transport. The reason was that no water was coming down the 102 River unless Hopkins flushed. Sorry, that may be way too visual. But it was a fact.

The silo needs to stay. Build the beautiful convention center around the landscaped atrium with the silo as the focal point. I can design that on a napkin for free.