From the Feb 13, 1941, issue of the Ridgeway Journal: The Ridgeway High School held an amateur talent show which included “novelties, rhythm band, vocal and instrumental music, impersonations, humorous readings and one-act plays.” The audience was to vote on the winners who received a cash prize ranging from $3 for the first prize winner to $1 for fifth place. Admission was 10 cents and some of the selections were a radio program one-act play by the 8th grade, “Woodpecker Song” by Betty Polley and Carolyn Ramsey, “Angel”, a vocal solo by Leslie Shepard, “At the End of a Perfect Day”, a solo by Bud Baker, and “Good Night Mother” by Edward Gene Gillespie.
The sad thing about these papers is that 1941 was the last year that the Ridgeway Journal would be published. Celbe C. Cline, owner of the paper, finished putting the paper to bed on July 2, 1941, and passed away at the age of 73. He had taken over the Ridgeway Journal 8 years earlier with his brother after retiring from a successful career (Tri-County News, Jul 11, 1941, page 5). There were at least a couple of attempts later to publish a paper such as the Ridgeway Star started by Frank Scovil from Kansas City in 1942 and the Mercury-Herald edited by Roger Anderson and Paul Johnson in the late 1940s.
