Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1979-12-25

              STATE HISTORICAL -'- . CI- T ; j
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COLUMBIA, MO. bZ'A
72nd Year No. 87 mkkI Mrnin! It'sTiiesduv. Iht'emlxM 25. 17J 16 Pages 15 Cents
Imsighi
Here's how
carols grew
to tradition
By Oafy Anderson
BiBneoriaa staff writer
The Christmas carol is a tradition to-day,
but it was not always like that. At
one tune, carols were even banned by
the religious leaders of the church.
The word " carol" was originally a
term for a circle dance. When words
and music were added to the dance, a
carol became the musical accompani-ment.
Eventually, carols came to
mean any festive songs
Carols further developed through
their association with the mystery
plays of the Middle Ages These were
enactments of biblical stones Most
carols were anonymous and were
passed by word of mouth from genera-tion
to generation
By this tune, carols were a mixture
of English wassail or drinking songs,
religious celebration of the birth of
Christ, and songs from the Celtic festi-val
of Yule
The custom of carolers singing door
to door also began in the Middle Ages
when strolling beggars went from
house tb bouse singing for food and
drink. Today, a caroler may be re-warded
by cookies and chocolate, but
mat is not the reason be sings
Carol singing was forbidden m 1647
because the English Puritans of the
17th century disapproved of frivolity
The Puritans who founded America
also opposed the custom, so caroling in
the United States is a recent devel-opment,
dating from the 19th century
Caroling was revived in England after
lfiSO.
Many of the carols song today have
interesting histories. Perhaps the best
known is that of " Silent Night" Leg-end
says that mice had chewed holes in
me organ bellows one Christmas Eve
t m the Austrian village of Obendorf.
The church organist was in despair,
for all the hymns for evening mass re- quiredaao- rgan
Joseph Mohr, the pas-tor
of the church, quickly wrote a little
song that could be played on the guitar,
and that night the soft strains of " Si-lent
Night" were heard for the first
time
Christmas caroling today is often
done by church groups, school classes
and choirs, and youth organizations
Carolers might go to retirement homes
and homes of the elderly and shut- i- n,
or they might stand on street corners
and at malls singing to all who go by
Many residential blocks also have a
custom of caroling
RitaRccd
Newborn Kelli Elizabeth is a stocking! ill for her mother, Debbie Nanson
Chamber members say city master plan top need
ByEisaCastwell
fifiscsorfaa staff writer
In one of the first public results of a
bylaw change, Columbia Chamber of
Commerce members recently identi-fied
the development of a master plan
for the caty as its top priority
Prior to changing the bylaws two
years ago, the chamber could not take
a stand on any public issue Since the
revision, the chamber is allowed to
take a position, but it can be over-turned
by the members on a referen-dumvote
" Recently, the chamber has been ag-gressive
in petitioning the City Council
for changes," said Al Murfin, chamber
executive vice president " You can ex-pect
to see the chamber becoming
more active and viable concerning
things that are germane to the commu
nity"
One way the chamber will become
more visible is through an unscientific
survey conducted in mid- Octob- er The
chamber asked the members to rank
19 aty issues in order of importance to
them and to respond to 14 questions
concerning these issues
The survey, sent to the chamber's
approximately 600 members, will be
used by the board of directors in deter-mining
general policies for the cham-ber,
but copies of the results also were
sent to several aty officials
" It was not intended to be a scientific
survey, it was to give the board input
from chamber members," Murfin
said " The results will be used by the
board to form policy "
" People often ask the chamber to
take a stand pro or con and we don't
like to do so without consulting our
members The survey will be an aid to
the board of directors," said Richard
Mendenhall, chamber vice president
for operations We did decide as a
board of directors that the City Council
has more information than we do or
the average citizen, and they should, in
most cases, make the decisions I think
the survey will have as much influence
as any group who told the City Council
what it feels "
Mayor Clyde Wilson, who received a
copy of the survey, said he was inter-ested
in the way the chamber mem-bers
responded to the issues
We thought results might be of
some interest to them ( aty officials)
and at least give them the knowledge
of how one segment of the community
feels It is simply an informational
tool But results may be the basis for
developing a policy that would put as
in a position to lobby for particular ac-tion,
Murfin said
Murfin said the chamber received
103 responses
I think the responses of the people
who did respond are valid, even though
the response was small, the people
took time with the questions," Murfin
said
After the development of a master
plan, the members ranked, in order,
downtown parking, crime prevention,
improvement of Route B and devel-opment
of a thoroughfare master plan
The other concerns were, in order
regional shopping mall development,
in- de- pth review of aty departments,
program to help Stephens College,
West Broadway widening. Flat Branch
development downtown parking for
employees, program to help Columbia
College, staggered city council terms,
airport expansion, revision of down-town
traffic patterns, downtown beau
tification development of convention
center, acquisition of Stephens Park
and establishment of historical dis-tricts
An official in the city Planning De-partment
said Monday that although
the department is not considering a
broad master plan at this time, work is
being done on separate master plans
for the aty ' s five sectors Only the cen
tral sector plan has been completed
and the northeast sector will be worked
on next
The Planning Department is doing
more work on item five of the survev
list development of a thoroughfare
master plan for the city A plan was
developed m 1968 and the department
is in the process of updating it
The city also is studying downtown
parking The council currently is
studving whether to build a parking ga-rage
behind the Daniel Boone Countv- Cit- y
Building and also leasing the
ground at the corner of Walnut and
North Ninth streets where the North
Village Gym and several other smaller
businesses stood before burning last
summer The First Christian Church,
owner of the property, is clearing the
lot
The church has agreed orally to
lease it to us when they get it done,"
said Bob Black, assistant to the aty
manager The transaction probably
will take place in the spring, he said
The decision on the garage behind
the County -- City Building should come
before the spring The city already has
interviewed architects to get price esti- -
( See COUNCIL, Page 16)
Uiafajteffllifigd Ssosftsfgc ! ks at mail
4
Hostages get Christmas services;
Iranians say gifts booby- trappe- d
Holiday bundles
make perfect
stocking stnffers
By Eric Johnson
Missourian staff writer
Betsy Etz gave birth to her third
born son Saturday, wrapped him in
swaddling Pampers and laid him in a
maternity crib
And although baby Brian entered the
world at Boone County Hospital and
not in a manger he was every bit as
peaceful and loving as the newborn
Christ Ciiild must have been that first
Christmas morning
Hospital obstetrics nurses won t
wrap Brian in a stocking like thev will
other babies this Christmas morn
He II be home in time for tree trim-ming
and Santa Claus in Shelbina 70
miles ( 112 kilometers 1 north of Colum
bia
Mrs Etz and her husband Jim were
elated over their surprise Chistmas
present
I ve really been waiting for one
it s been 10 vears of waiting the
glowing mother said as she cuddled
Brian
We certainlv thank the good Lord
since we weren t planning for him
The Etzes hadn t expected Brian in
two was he came after their voung
est son was 10 years old, and he was
22 weeks early
Mrs Etz said her other sons Blair
11 and Brett 10 were happy the birth
would not delay their Christmas Nev-ertheless
Christmas will take a back
seat to the arrival of our little one,
she said
Brett had wished for an earlv arrival
because all I wanted to do is see it
I ve waited 10 years fortius
Will little Brian hav e a stocking wait-ing
for him at home'' No, he came so
soon we haven t even bought a cnb,
Mrs Etz said
Unlike Brian the wards newborns
who can t go home for Christmas will
have stockings waiting for them this
morning
Following a nine- ve- ar tradition, ob-stetrics
department nurses will slip the
babes into red- and- wh- ite flannel stock-ings
to make a holiday spent in the hos-pital
cnb more festiv e
More than 13 yards ( 11 3 meters) of
stnped flannel is donated each y ear by
the Women of Woodcraft, a fraternal
life insurance organization
I get the material and the girls fin
the obstetrics department) help me
make them," said Ann Douglas a
nurse and member of Women of Wood
craft
The babes- in- stockin- gs will brighten
the ward along with non- flamma- ble
wreaths and a tree topped by an angel
wearing a surgical mask
Nurses' efforts improve bleak Christmas
By Shawn Bahhrop
Mbsourian staff writer
The woman was 35 years old She had six
children ranging in ages from six to 16 She had
no husband, and she and herchildren lived in a
small two- bedroo- m apartment in a housing
project
It was three weeks until Christmas, but there
was little gaiety in this house The woman was
dying of cancer.
The Columbia Visiting Nurses Association is a
certified home care agency which often provides
medical service for terminally ill patients and
others who cannot take care of themselves Yet
sometimes, especially around this time of ear,
the group members go a little beyond the call of
duty to bring goodwill and cheer to those who
otherwise would be spending a quite cheerless
Christmas
Two years ago, the v isiting nurses association
was attending the w oman at home She had been
discharged from the hospital to die. saysVNA
director Lydia Coad ' She had shared with her
children the knowledge of her impending death "
The children reacted angrily to the mother, and
told her they hated her
It was a season of joy and happiness, but there
was little happiness in this home It was at this
point that the VNA stepped in Ms Coad and the
others realized that there was little to be done for
the mother But the children still had their lives
ahead of them, and the VNA determined that
their last Christmas w ith their mother w ould be
as happy as possible
Wewanted them to remember their last
Christmas with their mother as something good
Ms Coad says
The group used donations from outside sources
combined with some from their own pockets, to
make the little home come alive with lights and
tinsle They brought in a tree and decorated it
They each brought a present, and Christinas
dinner was brought and served The gifts were, by
and large, not practical, but they allowed a young
woman a last touch of luxury and her children a
last happy memory of their dying mother
This example is an extreme case of how far the
VNA goes to try and assure a merry Christmas
for its patients, Ms Coad say s They often help in
other less dramatic ways, finding families or
groups to adopt an elderly or lonelv person at this
and other times of the y ear to take dinner to
them and share it with them on Christmas day
And for those who are left alone one of the
members makes it her business to buy each a
present and deliv er it personallv
Every now and then however more desperate
cases come before the group That is when
everyone pitches in to help out as best they can
Such is the case of a 78- year-- old diabetic woman
confined to a wheelchair She recently was
discharged from a nursing home Before that she
had spent a year and a half in the state hospital at
Fulton While she was away, caseworker Mary
Helen Laughrev sav s, her furniture was
careiesslv stored and was destrov ed by water
damage
She left the nursing home with only her clothes
and part of her last month's Social Security
check Right now she is liv ing in a housing
project where the VNA provides her with nursing
and homemaker serv ice
Onecommumt: group the Boone County
Retired Teachers Association, has already given
the VNA a donation which will buv her a new
mattress The VN A is looking for other wavs to
provide the woman with a bit merrier Christmas,
trving to find a group to take her dinner and make
her feel wanted
TEHRAN, Iran ( UPI) Three American clergymen
preaching peace and patience entered the occupied US Em-bassy
Monday to celebrate Christmas midnight Mass with
the 50 hostages Their arrival was marred by charges that
some of the captives' gifts had been booby- trappe- d with
The three clergymen, accompanied by the Archbishop of
Algiers, Cardinal Ettenne Duval, entered the U. S. Embassy
at 11 .05 pm. Tehran time.
Foreign Minister Sadegh Gfaotbzadeh told militant stu- den- ts
shortly before the arrival of the clergy " bombs and ex-plosive
material have been found sn some of ihe parcels and
ChnsSroas gifts sent to the hostages in the American den of
3SS."
The implication of his statement was that the " enemies" of
Islam, the United States, was deliberately trying to blow up
either the captors or the captives in an attempt to further
blacken Iran's name in the international community
The three officially invited American clergymen the
Rev. William Sloane Coffin of New York City's Riverside
Church; the Rev William Howard, a black clergyman and
president of the National Council of Churches, and Roman
Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit immedi-ately
announced their intention to meet the hostages and con-duct
midnight Christmas services
The clergymen carefully selected by Iran because of
their militant history against imperialism" counseled in
various statements that the 51- day-- old crisis could only be
solved by both sides practicing " patience and peace "
In the first solid evidence the captives had received at
least some of the 1 1 million Christmas cards and gifts sent
them, their guards released three photographs showing seve-ral
hostages opening cards on the floor of their makeshift
quarters inside the embassy.
In other developments in the hostage situation
The United States Monday formally asked the U N Secu-rity
Council to impose economic sanctions against Iran for
holding the hostages under " intolerable conditions "
Ghotbxsdeh officially asked Panama for the first time
to extradite Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlsvi as quickly as
possible In Panama City, President Aristides Royo said
Panama had not received any request for the shah's extradi-tion,
but it would refuse it anyway.
No snow
Youngsters who found sleds under their Christmas
trees today will have to wait to try them out There is
no snow in the immediate forecast, according to the
National Weather Service
Columbia s brown Christmas is not unusual Oily 27
of the last 84 Chnstmases since the weather service be-gan
keeping records in 1895 were white Although a bit
of snow, part of a line of precipitation moving through 1
Columbia fell Monday, it was not measurable
The most recent white Christmas was in 1975 when
three inches ( 7 5 centimeters) covered the ground
The forecast includes a gradual warming and clear-ing
trend beginning today as temperatures are ex-pected
to reach the low to mid 40s F ( 4 C). The trend
will continue at least through Wednesday when a high
8 in the mid to upper 50s F( 10C) is expected.
No paper I
The Columbia Missourian will not be gKsbftaiied 1
Wednesday so that employees can spend CMstoas 1
Day with their families. S
The Misscurian will resume normal publicsfel bM S
distribution Thursday 1
1