The great crowd of witnesses to that marriage was very still and attentive. It was a fitting climax to a time of much activity. Now, after fifty years, Willis and Mary Etta will return to help Stone County celebrate its 150th anniversary as Grand Marshals in the parade on June 2 beginning at 10 a.m. in Galena. Board members of the North Stone Northeast Barry County Fire Protection District accepted a Rural Development grant last week from Greg Branum, Missouri Director for USDA Rural Development. The fire district has five stations to equip and maintain providing service to a coverage area of over 100 square miles with an annual budget of 45,000.
Grants play a vital role in stretching the budget to update and add equipment.
In addition, the fire district participates in the federal surplus equipment program through the Missouri Department of conservation. Equipment through that program includes tanker trucks, brush trucks, generators, and radios plus a host of other equipment and hand tools. Rural Development Manager Leon Melvin is one of those employees that goes the extra mile to find solutions to the needs of Missourians in this area. He assisted the fire district in developing the grant and worked through the mountain of paper that it required. The new equipment and apparatus will enable the volunteer firemen to better serve the taxpayers of the district and those who travel through it.