Another Two Years

     Nick Collison, Boone's connection to the National Basketball Association, is in the last year of his latest contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder and friends, and even family members, have wondered about his future plans.
     It's settled.
     The NBA team announced late Tuesday that Nick's contract has been extended for two more seasons at an estimated $7.5 million. He's 34 years old and has been with the franchise for 11 years. He's the longest-tenured member of the Thunder.
     The Thunder General Manager said, "Nick's the type of player that will always be valued and we are thrilled he will continue to be a foundational member of the Thunder moving forward." Coach Scott Brooks added, "he's going down as  one of the best teammates of all time. Not just for our organization but, from my experience of being on a lot of different teams as a player and a coach. He's right there with the best of them."
     Collison, who grew up in Iowa Falls and played collegiately at Kansas, has a strong Boone connection. His parents are Dave and Judy Peterson Collison, both former Toreador athletes and graduates. His grandparents, Clarence "Pete" and Donna Peterson and Arden and Ruth Collison, all now deceased, were longtime Boone residents. And, there are many other family members still in Boone and surrounding area.
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     Viewers must stretch their memory to "catch up" with this story which Mark Tompkins came across while scouring the internet. It goes back to 1947, which is a slight bit before the Kornerman's time here. However, I do remember talk about the incident at various times through the years.
     Apparently, the community has an almost forgotten "cold case" with many questions unanswered to this day.
     An area resident was apparently murdered, there's a question about the true identity of the victim and "whatever happened to the money that was in the police safe?"
     After World War II, Yugoslavian John Zauhar worked in this country to support his family members in his war-torn country. On August 23, 1947, while on a train in central Iowa, Zauhar began acting oddly. He took out a large roll of cash he had earned and gave bills away to strangers. When the train pulled into Boone, rail officials had Zauhar removed from the train, feeling he was not acting in his own interest. He was not arrested, his money was placed in a safe and Zauhar spent the night at the jail.
     The next morning, Zauhar left for breakfast but never returned for his money and was not located.
     On November 9, 1947, a train crew spotted a man's body by the tracks, four miles west of Boone. There was no identification.
     Boone Police Chief Lawrence Paulson ordered an x-ray to confirm the presence of a bullet in the man's skull. An autopsy confirmed that it would have been impossible for the man to have inflicted the wound on himself. Boone County Coroner Garland Hancock stated the unknown man died by "felonious means at the hands of an unknown person or persons and at an unknown time."
     The unidentified murder victim was buried at Mineral Ridge Cemetery north of Boone but efforts to locate his grave have been unsuccessful.
     The story continued when family members of Zauhar in Yugoslavia asked U.S. sources to investigate his disappearance and make every attempt to determine if the man, found dead near Boone, was, in fact, the husband of Mrs. Zauhar. An insurance company was also anxious to exhume the body of the unknown man before paying a death benefit to Mrs. Zauhar.
     Unfortunately, the story abruptly ends right there with many questions remaining. Who murdered the man found by the railroad tracks near Boone? Was the body exhumed? Was the body definitively identified as John Zauhar?  Did the insurance company pay benefit's to Zauhar's widow? And, what happened to the money in the police safe?
     Whoever the man was, and it's likely he was John Zaubar, he was a homicide victim and his killer has never been charged and convicted.
     Much of the material you have just read was taken from an article written by Nancy Bowers in 2011, which is part of Iowa's Unsolved Murders: Historic Cases.
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     Gretchen Otis wrote, "it was so nice to read about the Lindmark's in the Korner. Connie was my Sunday School teacher at Augustana Lutheran Church. Later, I was Larry's teacher and "baby sitter." Connie Arnold Lindmark and her sisters graduated from BHS......Eudora in 1938, Connie in 1940 and Marilyn in 1942. Marilyn survives and lives in Lacy, WA.. The Arnold girls had lovely voices, sang in the church choir and were a noted trio in Boone. All the Arnold's, Orr's and Lindmark's were/are fine people and great assets to Boone, IA. and their respective communities."
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     Boone Area Deaths: Leah Ober, 66, Stratford, formerly of Boone. BHS-66. She loved her job at Walmart in Boone and also assisted the DNR, spending many years rehabilitating injured wildlife so they could be returned to their natural habitat. Boone area survivors include her son, Randy of Stratford, daughter Samantha Gray of Webster City, step-mother Doris Martin of Boone and step-sisters Darla Grosnickel of Boone and Cheryl Lindholm of Ogden............Grover Phend, 84, Ogden. Formerly of Dubuque. Boone area survivor is a daughter Lonnie Ray of Boone.
     The Kornerman was sorry to hear of the death of a former Boone News Republican colleague. Ed Bomberger, 76, Ames, passed away January 29.
     Way back, Ed and the Kornerman worked together as news reporters for the Boone News. It may have been Ed's first job out of college and I'm not sure how long he was a Boone resident.
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     Worldwide Korner headquarters are located at 710 Aldrich, Boone, Iowa 50036-4703. Phone number is 515-432-1530. To email your stories/memories/comments/support..........
kelleyskorner1@gmail.com.