Our Past: Dec. 11

Dec. 11, 1980

Parsons city commissioners decided to engage a cable television consulting firm to study two requests for cable franchises it expected to receive and then advise the city on whether they were practical for Parsons. Two businessmen — Larry Thompson and Dean Coe — had said they would form a new company called CableParsons and requested that the city grant them a 20-year non-exclusive franchise. Also, Charles Gramlich of Norman, Oklahoma, regional manager of American Television and Communications Corp., told the commissioners that his company would submit a proposal in January asking for renewal of its franchise with the city, which was set to expire in 1983. 

Dec. 11, 1990

The final touches were being put on a $500,000 project to fully automate a painting operation at Ruskin Manufacturing Co., 1700 N. 21st, according to plant manager Delmer Fisher. Ruskin manufactured air handling equipment such as fire dampers, control dampers and louvers for hospitals, nuclear power plants and other commercial and industrial facilities. The company installed a new, completely automated paint system for a new line of louvers. With the automation of the equipment, an addition of about 25 employees at the plant was expected, Fisher said. Ruskin had a workforce of about 250 at the Parsons plant, and a facility in Galesburg employed about 150 workers.

Dec. 11, 2000

More than two dozen candles, blocked by gloved hands from the chilling wind, flickered on the Parsons Plaza the previous night as families gathered to remember children who touched their lives but were gone. The event marked the third year of the Parsons chapter of The Compassionate Friends Inc.’s participating in the National Children’s Memorial Candle Lighting. More than 15 area children were remembered. The Rev. Lurena Dunn said the chapter was started at Wesley United Methodist Church after several families experienced the loss of a child within a year. The group provided an atmosphere where people could talk about their loss without the worry of making someone feel uncomfortable.

Unbeaten senior Nathan Baker captured the title at 275 pounds and freshman Kyle Beebe took the crown at 103 to lead seven Parsons placers in the Anderson County Invitational high school wrestling tournament. The Vikings got third-place finishes from Ryan Forbes at 112, A.J. Brinkman at 189 and Sean Pollmiller at 215 along with fourths from Gabe Forbes at 135 and Levi King at 140.