Buffalo Reflex office damaged by arson
Published 11:00 am Wednesday, October 7, 2026
This week in Dallas County history, as recorded in the Buffalo Reflex.
Oct. 6, 1966
Julius R. Anderson, state Department of Agriculture entomologist, was in the area investigating a report of fraud in termite control operation. He was assisted by a fraud investigation committee of the Missouri Pest Control Operators’ Association.
Buffalo native Glenn D. Montgomery, retired Air Force warrant officer, was awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal.
Carl Deck was appointed district deputy grand master of the 41st District of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Missouri.
Business major Jean Elizabeth Brooks, Plad, was a University of Missouri Homecoming queen candidate.
Marilyn Lowe became the director of the Dallas County Welfare Office.
“Organ Vespers,” an album by Bob Money, who had Hammond Organ Studio in Springfield, was to be featured on KBFL.
Mr. and Mrs. R.A. Andrews, Buffalo, were to be honored with a golden wedding reception.
Buffalo Theatre: “Born Free,” with Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers, “7 Women” and “Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!”
Autoscope Drive-in: “Goodbye Charlie,” with Debbie Reynolds, Tony Curtis, Walter Matthau and Ellen McRae (Burstyn).
Area deaths: the Rev. Thurman L. Swift (accidentally run over by a truck at a quarry), Dorothy June (Low) Conaway, Alex Irvine, Arthur Rorie, Gretta Starnes, Garrett Henry Shaw, John Perry Moore and Hobert Vincent Bass.
Oct. 7, 1976
The offices of the Buffalo Reflex and Dallas County Republican were severely damaged by fire, ruled to be arson.
Dairies owned by Dwight Mathews, Don Sharp and William Nimmo surpassed statewide averages of milk production.
Wesley Howard Atkisson’s capital murder charge was reduced to second-degree murder.
Lila Kay Chapman received a Bachelor of Science in Education from MU.
Mr. and Mrs. Merton Pottroff were to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at O’Bannon Community Center.
Mary Beth Lemons, Buffalo, was a member of the Southwest Missouri State University marching band.
Autoscope Drive-in: “The Great Texas Dynamite Chase,” with Claudia Jennings, Jocelyn Jones and Johnny Crawford.
Area deaths: Clyde Monroe Gower, William Seberry Phillips, Everett “Ebb” Gann, Benjamin H. Yates, William Dee Cannefax, Kenner W. Claiborne, Lawrence Leslie Blecher and Charles W. Hemm.
Oct. 8, 1986
Continued rain saturated the area, causing widespread flooding and water damage, as well as hampering travel.
A fire destroyed the interior of the Luckey Korner grocery store at the junction of Mo. 38 and U.S. 65 south of Buffalo.
The Maple Heights Motel, Urbana, was destroyed by fire. Authorities speculated lightning created an electrical short.
Stacey Simmons was crowned Buffalo Football Festival queen.
Steve Sherman, Buffalo, killed the county’s first deer of the 1986 archery season. It was a 10-point buck south of Buffalo.
Highway 65 Drive In: “Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives,” with Thom Mathews, Jennifer Cooke and C.J. Graham.
Deaths: Wilbur Burley Gott, Inez Marie Novak, Ronald W. Jablonski Sr., Delcenia E. Wisdom and Homer Joe Williams.
Oct. 9, 1996
Fourth District Congressman Ike Skelton received the American Farm Bureau Federation Friend of Farm Bureau Award at an event in Buffalo.
Frank Abel, Urbana, snagged a 45-inch, 30-pound muskie on Pomme de Terre Lake.
Dennis Yates, Yates Valley, painted a 4-foot-by-12-foot oil-on-gesso mural of bison at Bank of Urbana’s Buffalo branch.
Deaths: Marion Howard, Ina Joy Langdon, Philip Eugene Hyde, Alva L. Duncan, Thelma Nadine Spencer, Patricia Ann Shay, Buell Dale Wilson, Alice Webster Coates, Irene Emma Witt, Sam Lee Blair, John Harvey Drysdale, James Morris Canon, Stanley Francis Vajdic Sr., Ruby Kelderhouse, Jerl Whillock, Oscar Ray Nichols Sr. and Henry Franklin Lightfoot.
Oct. 11, 2006
Dallas County Detention Center was empty after a fire in the shower that damaged the security and telephone systems.
Dallas County 911 Director Al Campbell was leaving to take a role as communications manager with Halo Flight, Texas.
Maci Wood was crowned Skyline Homecoming queen. She was escorted by Brett Powell. Jessica Buckner was crowned Fair Grove Homecoming queen. She was escorted by Lee Anderson.
Area deaths: Geneva T. Flippin and James Matthew Gatewood.
Oct. 5, 2016
Former Reflex editor Jim Hamilton was inducted into the Missouri Press Association’s Newspaper Hall of Fame.
Death: Helen Marie (Emert) Harwood, Danny Vincent Langley, Arley Allen Jasper (car crash near Buffalo), Luella (Fricke) Henderson, Marcella Kay “Marcie” Henderson, Walter Glen Berry, Kenneth Carl “Kenny” Martin, Richard Eugene Smith.
