One of five suspects charged in connection with the shooting death of 18-year-old Skylar Powell has entered a plea of not guilty.

Kyle Smith, 25 appeared in court Monday morning and entered a plea of not guilty.  As we previously reported, Kyle Smith is charged in Buchanan County with a felony of possession of a controlled substance and a felony for tampering with physical evidence.

A trial setting was scheduled for Aug. 15.

Four other suspects are also charged in the case including, Justin Smith, Dayne Matthews, Ashten Surritte and Gabriel Dawson.  Prosecutors believe Powell was killed during a drug transaction and attempted robbery May 17 in the area of 2200 Calhoun.

Kyle Smith is currently out on bail.

 

A Princeton man has died after a rollover crash in Grundy County Monday morning.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s crash report, 67-year-old Kendall Shriver was driving a 2006 Ford F-150 around 10:30 a.m. on Route A about five miles north of Trenton.  The patrol said Shriver’s vehicle traveled off the south side of the roadway.  He over-corrected and went off the north side and his vehicle rolled over multiple times before coming to a stop on the passenger side in the ditch off the north side of the road.

Shriver was not reported to be wearing a seat belt. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

MARYVILLE, Mo. – Traffic on U.S. Route 71 in the Maryville area is being detoured around a multi-vehicle crash.

U.S. Route 71 between Route 148 and Route CC is now closed on the northeast side of the Maryville area.

All traffic is being detoured over Route 148 and Route CC around the crash site. Crews from the Missouri Department of Transportation are assisting the Missouri State Highway Patrol with traffic control around the crash scene.

The road may be closed for several hours.

Mosaic Life Care is donating more than $1 million in Community Connect funding to ten agencies for population health programs.

Organizations that received funding included Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Catholic Charities, Community Missions/Crossing, Family Guidance Center, Habitat for Humanity, HEALTH (Helping Everyone Achieve Long Term Health), Legal Aid, Northwest Missouri Children’s Advocacy Center, Second Harvest and United Way.

In order to receive funding the non-profit organizations had to address one or more of three primary health needs as determined by a recent Community Health Needs Assessment.  Those needs included, social determinants that affect access to health care, obesity prevention, and mental health.

“The Community Connect program is a way for Mosaic Life Care to go beyond individual health improvement to get at the basis of population health,” said Pat Dillion, DP, Advocacy/Government Relations for Mosaic. “The allocations committee worked very hard and spent a great death of time on this process and gave each application a thorough evaluations.”

In order to be eligible for funding, the project was required to serve a vulnerable population, be evidenced-based, provide required metrics to show positive impact of program, provide an innovative solution that has the potential for community-wide impact, and have a budget amount between $5,000 and $250,000.

Community Connect
Organization Project summary
Big Brothers/Big Sisters Mentoring Children Experiencing Trauma
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater St. Joseph (BBBS-SJ) has developed a special initiative, Mentoring Children
Experiencing Trauma (MCET), to help the hundreds of children in the Greater St. Joseph community who have or are
experiencing trauma. The types of trauma that youth who enroll into this program could have experienced, but not
limited to, are: a parent or parents in prison, physical abuse, contact with the juvenile court system, in the foster care
system or the death of a parent or family member. By creating this new MCET Initiative, BBBS-SJ will have the resources
and opportunity to help this high-risk group of children by providing a mentor in their lives.
Catholic Charities Catholic Charities Welcome Center
The Welcome Center is designed to fill in service gaps by helping those who are in need – for example those who cannot
afford health insurance but do not qualify for Medicaid or those that are on Medicare but cannot afford the co-pay.
These people have reached the end of governmental benefits and have nowhere to turn. Catholic Charities will help
them meet the co-pay, purchase a medication, subsidize dental work done, get dentures and other related services that
are desperately needed by the seniors, poor and needy, uninsured and disabled.
Community
Missions/Crossings
Drop-in Center
The Drop-In Center will provide a place for men and women who are homeless or
disenfranchised (due to income, inability to find/maintain employment, offender status,
etc.) to go during the day to access services like case management, health evaluation,
and job training. The Drop-In Center will provide whatever activities are necessary to help people who are living on the
streets or have been marginalized to move towards stability that leads to obtaining and maintaining permanent housing.
Family Guidance Center Family Guidance Center (FGC)’s Capital Campaign: Door Always Open
The “Door Always Open” initiative is designed to increase FGC’s organizational capacity to provide additional integrated
behavioral health services and promote access to these services for those most in need. FGC is the Missouri Department
of Mental Health’s (DMH) designated Community Mental Health Center in the region. Currently operating with a waiting
list for those in need, the goal of the planned expansion reflects its name: open the door to care for more area
neighbors.
Habitat for Humanity Faraon Street Revitalization
The project is focused on revitalizing the neighborhood stretching between 22nd Street west to 15th Street on Faraon
Street. The overall conditions of many of these homes are unacceptable and pose health risks to residents who live in
them on a daily basis. Plan includes revitalization of the exterior of every target home. This will include roof repair or
replacement, soffit, fascia, windows, and paint. While repairing and renovating the exteriors of these homes, an internal
inspection of the home, will be made, advising residents and owners of code violations.
HEALTH HEALTH (Helping Everyone Achieve Long Term Health)
Twenty-five safety net and medical care organizations came together to form HEALTH (Helping Everyone Achieve Long
Term Health). The mission of HEALTH is to build a healthier community by optimizing and coordinating services that
encourage and empower individuals to overcome economic and social barriers to achieve long term health. HEALTH uses
a patient centered approach with Community Health Workers (CHWs) providing the ground level vital link between
patients, health care providers and the county’s safety net organizations. All of 25 safety net organizations will be able to
refer clients into HEALTH.
Legal Aid St. Joseph Healthy Housing Project
Legal Aid will represent investors to assist them in rehabbing abandoned housing within the St. Joseph city limits. This
project will aid in improving housing options to local citizens and promote healthier and more vibrant neighborhoods. By
using the abandoned housing act, low income earners have a chance to buy or rent affordable and safe housing and hold
other landlords accountable by directly competing with them for renters. This competition will fuel better housing
products and more legal compliance.
Northwest Missouri
Children’s Advocacy Center
Trauma Education and Support for the child abuse victim’s parent/caretaker.
The goals of this project are:
– Provide education to parents about child sexual abuse and the emotional and behavioral reactions to abuse.
– Provide support and skills to help non-offending parents cope effectively with their own emotional distress
related to the abuse of their child.
– Provide non-offending parents with skills to respond optimally to and support their child.
– Provide parent support groups.
– Provide referrals to other community resources for individual therapy for parent as needed.
Second Harvest Second Harvest Fresh Mobile Pantry
Second Harvest currently serves the partner agencies in our service area, but many of them lack the capacity to store
fresh produce and protein, so deliveries are limited. Some pantries in our service territory are only able to offer a food
service to individuals three or four times per year due to lack of food product available and/ or infrastructure to stock
needed food to distribute more food on a more regular basis. The mobile pantry would encourage distribution more
often to locations such as this one to provide more access to fresh produce and to serve additional individuals with
better nutritional choices.
United Way United Way Success by 6 Resiliency Project
United Way Success By 6 Resiliency Project is designed to provide intervention and support services to young children
exhibiting signs of a possible social-emotional or behavioral development condition. Interventions for young children
with social-emotional or behavioral development conditions must start early and be provided by mental health
profession

The Trenton Police Department is investigating after a woman and child were found dead in a restaurant parking lot over the weekend.

According to police Saturday around 10:30 p.m. officers responded to the McDonald’s parking lot at 1861 East 9th St.

Police Chief Tommy Wright said witnesses said they found the woman, Elizabeth LaFolett, 24 and LaFolett’s daughter, 11-month-old Shannon Jeannoutot-LaFolett in a running vehicle on the parking lot.

“They could not get a response from the woman or the child so eventually they made the decision to break out the window and check on them,” Wright said.

However, it was later determined the two were deceased.

“This is an ongoing investigation.  There is no cause of death established at this time there is an autopsy going on as we speak,” Wright said. “At this time there’s no foul play suspected.”

Wright said it was believed the air conditioning was not working and the vehicle had been parked and running at that location for some time.  Highs that day were in the mid 80s.

“We’re still reviewing some of the investigative leads and reviewing some information,” Wright said. “We’re exploring all leads and all possibilities.”

He said toxicology results could take 6 to 8 weeks.

 

(Update 11 a.m.) – Four people have been arrested in connection with Sunday morning’s double homicide investigation in St. Joseph.

According to Capt. Jeff Wilson Three Hispanic men ages 34, 31, and 26 and one Hispanic woman age 29 have been taken into custody in connection with the investigation.

As we previously reported, officers were called out on a report of shots fired at a van in the 1900 block of Safari Dr. around 10:18 a.m. Sunday. When officers arrived they found one person dead inside the van and one person dead outside of the vehicle.  The victims have been identified by police as two Hispanic men ages 25 and 22.

Capt. Wilson said late Sunday night investigators seized several firearms believed to be connected to the case.

Little other information has been released at this point. As we learn more we will update this story.

Another problem with sanitation in the water has prompted another closure of the pool at St. Joseph’s Aquatic Park at 402 South Noyes.

In a news release, officials say loose feces were discovered in the pool Sunday afternoon, and the pool was cleared and closed immediately.

It will remain closed until the pool water, filters and equipment can be properly sanitized and the chemicals and pH levels are safe for people to enter the water.

This comes soon after the center was closed late last week for what were described as “problems with sanitation.”

In the news release, officials asserted that the safety of patrons is their utmost concern.

“We want to ensure that everyone who visits our facilities has an enjoyable and safe time at our pools,” according to the news release.

“When a loose stool occurs at the water park, millions of bacteria circulate throughout all of the water areas, which can be a health hazard to anyone that ingests the water. To ensure that no one becomes ill, the pool is temporarily closed until the pool and all pool equipment, including filters, inner tubes, life jackets, and other parks equipment can be sanitized.”

During the time that the pool is closed, the Aquatic Park employees follow the CDC requirements to ensure that the pool is safe for patrons to enjoy. Pool employees will be hyperchlorinating the pool and using other chemicals to ensure the bacteria that is in the water is killed, cleaning the filtering system and all the pool equipment, and then bringing the chlorine and ph levels to safe levels.

All swimming lessons were moved to Krug Park Pool Monday so that the students do not miss more time learning swimming and water safety techniques. Krug Pool will also be open to patrons today. Entrance is $3.00 for 8 and under and $4.00 for all others.

The Parks Department requests that anyone who does not feel well, has been exposed to an illness, or knows that they are coming down with the illness, postpone their trip to the pool so that it can remain open for the public to enjoy.

It is unfortunate that this has happened so soon after the last closure and Parks apologizes to its patrons who rely on the pool for cooling down, entertainment and lessons.

Parks anticipates that the pool will be open July 19, 2016, at 11:00 a.m., unless something unforeseen occurs, for example, severe thunderstorms.