A crash with a deer in western Kansas sent a St. Joseph woman to the hospital Saturday afternoon.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported Leona Mae Merrow, 65, of St. Joe was eastbound on I-70 about 21 miles east of Colby when her Kia hit a large deer. According to the crash report, the air bags deployed on both the driver and front passenger.
Merrow was transported to the Logan County Hospital with unspecified injuries.
A passenger, identified as James A. Merrow, 71, St. Joseph, was not injured.
A crash west of King city claimed the life of a 26-year-old King City man Saturday afternoon.
According to a crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Aaron Flora was driving along Andrew County Road 111 at County Road 116 shortly before 2:30 p.m. Saturday when his pickup crashed into a Mustang in the intersection.
Flora’s truck overturned and he was ejected. He was prounounced dead at the scene of the crash.
The other driver was identified in the crash report as Beverly Kier, 76, of Country Club Village. Kier was transported by private vehicle to Mosaic Life Care for treatment of what were described as minor injuries.
(Update) The St. Joseph Police Department is investigating a possible homicide after a body was discovered Sunday morning at Krug Park.
Capt. Jeff Wilson said little information is being released at this time. He said the body was found off of the bike trail early this morning and a homicide investigation is now underway.
Wilson said a jogger found the body around 9 a.m. The park located at 3500 St. Joseph Ave. was shut down shortly after.
According to police, the victim is a female in her late teens to early 20s.
Police sent out a Nixle message shortly before 11 a.m. to ask the public to avoid the area of Krug Park and that the park is closed until further notice.
As we learn more information we will update this story.
The Missouri Department of Conservation has awarded grants for community forestry which includes funding for the St. Joseph Parks Department.
MDC recently awarded $380,754 to Missouri communities through its Tree Resource Improvement and Maintenance (TRIM) grant program. TRIM grants offer cost-share funding for government agencies, public schools and nonprofit groups to manage, improve or conserve trees on public lands.
“Trees make life better for our cities and towns every day,” said MDC Community Forestry Program Supervisor Russell Hinnah. “TRIM grants help communities with tree inventory, pruning, planting, and programs that help keep our neighborhood trees healthy and thriving.”
The St. Joseph Parks, Recreation and Civic Facilities Department was awarded $2,972 for planting.
MDC said trees work in Missouri communities to provide an amazing number of benefits, from cleaning the air and water to reducing stress and helping children concentrate. Just like any other natural resource, it takes active involvement to keep community trees thriving.
“Tree inventories are an important way for communities to manage and plan for the future. You have to know not only where the trees are, but how to care for them. An inventory allows a community to thoughtfully plan work rather than responding to the latest disaster,” said Hinnah.
MDC has awarded 36 grants this year. The full TRIM grant recipients for 2016 are:
St. Louis Community College – Meramec, $9,971, inventory
Missouri Botanical Garden, $10,000, inventory for City of Rock Hill
City of North Kansas City, $25,000, inventory, education
Jefferson City Park & Recreation, $22,511, inventory, removal, education
City of Cameron, $10,000, inventory
City of Wentzville, $17,385, inventory
City of Joplin, $25,000, inventory
City of St. Louis Forestry, $25,000, inventory
City of Sedalia, $10,000, inventory, education
City of Pleasant Hill, $10,000, inventory
City of Sturgeon Parks & Trees, $10,000, removal, planting
Heartland Conservation Alliance, $10,000, inventory, education
City of Manchester, $6,399, ordinance development
Forest ReLeaf of Missouri, $10,000, tree inventory digital app development
City of Kirkwood, $10,000, inventory
City of Elsberry, $10,000, removal, pruning, planting
Tower Grove Park, $8,925, removal
City of Pine Lawn, $10,000, removal, pruning
City of Liberty, $10,000, removal, education, planting
City of Warrensburg, $10,000, removal
City of Bel-Nor, $5,475, removal, education
City of Gladstone, $9,521, pruning
Jefferson Farm and Garden, $9,470, education, planting
City of Hannibal, $992, education
City of Old Monroe, $6,000, removal, pruning, planting
City of Wildwood, $10,000, removal, planting
City of Branson, $8,640, removal
City of Parkville, $10,000, removal, pruning, planting
City of Osage Beach, $1,600, planting
City of Lake Saint Louis, $10,000, education
St. Joseph Parks, Recreation and Civic Facilities Department, $2,972, planting
Columbia Public Schools, $9,918, removal, pruning, education, planting
City of Glendale, $5,974, removal, pruning
City of Hermann, $10,000, removal, pruning
City of O’Fallon, $10,000, education, planting
City of Olivette, $10,000, pruning
Missouri American Water begins its annual flushing operations at the city’s fire hydrants. Christie Barnhart of Missouri American Water said the actual flushing gets underway Monday and is expected to last through the end of November. Barnhart says this helps remove deposits from the pipes.
“Flushing is a way to clean out our water system if you will,” Barnhart said, “because we have many hundreds of miles of pipes under the ground. By operating the hydrants and running the water through the pipe it essentially allows us to get any buildup of minerals off the pipes and out, and that helps maintain the health of our distribution system.”
It also allows crews the opportunity to inspect the pipes.
“This gives our employees a chance to actually operate the hydrants, which lets us know if there’s anything wrong with them, if repairs need to be made, and make sure they’re functioning correctly,” she said.
But Barnhart says cold weather could delay their plans.
“The work is scheduled to run through the end of November,” she said. “That is weather permitting.”
“If we end up seeing temperatures drop below freezing we will probably suspend the program. With the hydrant flushing obviously there’s water discharged on the ground and we would not want to create a situation where we had any slick spots if the temperatures did indeed drop.”
The flushing operations were expected to get underway on Monday.
(Missourinet) – The Occupational Safety and Health Organization wants Missouri’s grain handling industry to be vigilant in stemming the tide of tragedies.
More than half of all workers “engulfed” in grain die in 60 seconds from suffocation. Since January, there have been two grain-handling deaths and four preventable incidents in Kansas and Nebraska.
Brian Drake with OSHA’s Kansas City office notes workers face numerous dangers. “The hazards of asphyxiation when going into the grain bins, or going into the pits” said Drake. (That’s) why it’s so important to test the atmosphere before the employees go in there to make sure there’s not a lack of oxygen, or other chemicals that might cause their demise.”
The Occupational Safety and Health Organization is currently investigating six grain industry fatalities and incidents. One involved a 42-year-old worker in Prosser, Nebraska, who suffered fatal injuries caused by an operating auger as he drew grain from a bin.
In May of this year, a 53-year-old man working in West Point, Nebraska suffered severe injuries in a grain bin when a wall of corn product collapsed and engulfed him. OSHA says died of his injuries two days later.
Drake says employers are responsible for making conditions as safe as possible. “It’s their responsibility to ensure that employees, when they’re going into those bins, that they’re aware of the hazards of engulfment, they’re aware that the augers are not supposed to be running when they go in there. And that they’re aware that when they go in there and the augers are running, and grain is being pulled down into the auger underneath their feet, that they can be sucked down in there.”
Drake contends the industry’s hazards can be avoided. “All of these incidents can be prevented. I say incident, and not accident, because they’re not accidents. An accident is something that you can’t prevent. And these fatalities in this industry, as in any industry, can be prevented.”
Grain handling plays an important role in agriculture, which is the number-one industry in Missouri. There have been no industry related deaths in Missouri in 2016.
Two northeast Kansas men are making a run for the Kansas House for the 63rd District seat.
Republican John Eplee, MD of Atchison and Democrat W. Brett Neibling of Doniphan are running for the seat that has long been held by Democrat Jerry Henry who is making a run for the Kansas Senate.
Eplee is a doctor in Atchison and Neibling is a farmer in Highland. Both sat down with KFEQ’s Barry Birr for an interview on the issues and said they have plans to tackle economics within the state.
“What’s been going on with our state and our public schools really got me inspired to get involved. My wife is a public school teacher, I have two young girls who are going to go to public schools and I just felt like it was something that needed to be done, that I needed to get involved,” Neibling said.
“I have served on our school board locally for six years and my first introduction to state funding was not getting funded adequately for the entire time I’ve been on the school board but particularly the first two years. We had physical year cuts and then we had mid-year cuts and it made it very hard on administration to run a fluid smooth program,” Eplee said.
The Kansas budget is an issue both candidates are looking at.
“We’ve had to borrow vast amounts of money from the department of transportation, over a billion dollars over the last several years, we have cut higher education which is really serious in the state of Kansas,” Eplee said. “It’s really a wide-spread problem and it’s really predicated on revenue and budget and that’s what we have to dive into and solve.”
“What’s happened is our education budget have been almost a slush fund for running our government. I’m not opposed to tax cuts, I’m a farmer I think it’s necessary to generate revenue. It stimulates the economy. It’s important. But what happened with the tax experiment in Kansas is I think we jumped into the pool without knowing how to swim,” Neibling said. “I’m not advocating tax increases but we need to be able to sit down and have an honest conversation about these issues.”
Eplee said looking ahead that a tax increase could be needed in the state to improve the state budget.
“I think truth be known and the time is right and there is a hunger to put back some of the tax loopholes that were created in 2012 for business and perhaps not in full in part or incrementally. Depending on how the budget preforms,” Eplee said. “I think we at least need to revisit sales tax for gasoline.”
Looking ahead towards the future Neibling said he feels issues that will be important to the state in the next 10 to 20 years are energy and water.
“For the past three years I’ve serves on numerous water boards dealing with the water shortage we have in Kansas,” Neibling said. “I believe we’re going to have to deal with rising energy costs across the state.”
The 63rd district covers Doniphan and Atchison counties. Voters will decide who will fill the 63rd district during the Nov. 8 General Election.
St. Joseph, Mo. —Midwest Dueling Pianos will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20 in the Kemper Recital Hall, Spratt Hall room 101 at Missouri Western State University. The performance is free and open to the public.
Midwest Dueling Pianos offers an entertaining music and comedy show. Audience members request their favorite songs, generating a spontaneous and hilarious interactive musical odyssey that may also include audience participation in singing, dancing and skits.
The performance is sponsored by Missouri Western’s Center for Student Involvement.
Missouri’s Attorney General is warning consumers about purchasing cosmetic contact lenses without a prescription.
Friday Chris Koster sent out a release reminding Missourian that cosmetic contact lenses are not permitted to be sold without a valid prescription under state and federal law. Investigators with the Consumer Protection Division inspected 17 Halloween and costume shops during September and October and discovered that, while most followed the law, some stores in Missouri were selling cosmetic contact lenses without prescriptions.
Cosmetic contact lenses include decorative contact lenses, fashion contact lenses, Halloween contact lenses, colored contact lenses, and theater contact lenses. Cosmetic lenses are intended to change the look of someone’s eyes and do not correct vision problems. Such lenses are frequently sold by street vendors, beauty supply stores, novelty stores, or Halloween stores.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has classified both corrective and non-corrective contact lenses (including cosmetic contact lenses) as medical devices, which require a prescription in order to be sold or purchased. Corrective and non-corrective contact lens may be dispensed only after a buyer has presented the seller with a valid prescription or the seller has verified a buyer’s prescription with the prescriber.
“We are reminding consumers, especially in light of the Halloween season, that cosmetic contact lenses should not be purchased without a valid prescription,” Koster stated. “Not only is the sale without a prescription prohibited by law, but the FDA has warned that buyers are at risk of serious eye infections resulting from contact lenses dispensed without a prescription.”
St. Joseph, Mo. – The Missouri Community Forestry Council and the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) will co-host a tree care workshop 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Oct. 29, at the MDC Northwest Regional Office, 701 James McCarthy Drive, St. Joseph.
This workshop will help home and acreage owners learn how to properly maintain trees. Topics will include best practices for pruning, watering and mulching trees. Experts will discuss how to help trees survive problems such as insect pests and diseases.
The workshop requires a $5 fee to be paid at the door. There is no charge for attendees under age 16. To register, call 816-271-3100.
For more information on trees including those best for urban landscaping, visit http://mdc.mo.gov.
