JEFFERSON CITY – The Missouri Department of Transportation has issued a travel warning for motorists heading westbound on Interstate 70 in western Missouri over the Memorial Day weekend.

Due to a bridge deck replacement on I-70 at the Blackwater River bridge in Saline County, westbound traffic is reduced to one lane. In recent weekends, motorists have been experiencing an hour delay in this work zone near mile marker 77.

Motorists can check real-time travel delays online at MoDOT’s Traveler Information map at http://traveler.modot.org/map or call 1-888-ASK-MODOT (275-6636). MoDOT’s Traveler Information Map is available as a free app for iPhone and Android phone.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol has has increased the number of troopers on roadways this weekend.

“Throughout the holiday weekend, troopers within Troop H and throughout the state will be participating in Operation C.A.R.E. (Combined Accident Reduction Effort),” said Capt. James McDonald, commanding officer with Troop H in St. Joseph. “This means every available officer will be on the road enforcing traffic laws and assisting motorists.”

He said it’s meant to try and reduce the number and severity of traffic crashed.

In addition to Operation C.A.R.E., Troop H will also be participating in the statewide 20-Mile Trooper project during the peak travel periods on Friday, May 22, and Monday, May 25.

During this operation, troopers will be assigned to 20-mile stretches of Interstate 29.

Enforcement efforts on secondary roads will be conducted during the same timeframe within Troop H.

This year’s Memorial Day weekend counting period is from 6 p.m., on Friday, May 22, 2015, to 11:59 p.m. on Monday, May 25, 2015.

“Memorial Day is the first major travel holiday of the year and the Missouri State Highway Patrol urges motorists to wear their seat belts and never drink and drive,” McDonald said. “The Highway Patrol wants everyone to have a safe Memorial Day weekend.”

The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch for areas in Northwest Missouri and Northeast Kansas.

FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY EVENING THROUGH
MONDAY EVENING.

HEAVY RAINS AND RENEWED FLOODING POSSIBLE THIS WEEKEND

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL REDEVELOP ACROSS THE LOWER MISSOURI
VALLEY THIS WEEKEND AS A SERIES OF UPPER-LEVEL DISTURBANCES MOVE
ACROSS THE REGION. THESE DISTURBANCES COMBINED WITH HIGH AMOUNTS OF
ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE WILL LEAD TO PERIODS OF MODERATE TO LOCALLY
HEAVY RAINFALL FROM SATURDAY NIGHT INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. HEAVY RAINS
COMBINED WITH NEARLY SATURATED SOILS AND ELEVATED WATER LEVELS ON
AREA RIVERS AND STREAMS WILL LEAD TO POSSIBLE FLOODING AND FLASH
FLOODING DURING THE MEMORIAL DAY HOLIDAY WEEKEND.

* FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF KANSAS AND MISSOURI…
INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING AREAS…IN KANSAS…ATCHISON KS…
DONIPHAN…JOHNSON KS…LEAVENWORTH…LINN KS…MIAMI AND
WYANDOTTE. IN MISSOURI…ANDREW…BATES…BUCHANAN…
CALDWELL…CARROLL…CASS…CHARITON…CLAY…CLINTON…
COOPER…DAVIESS…DE KALB…HENRY…HOWARD…JACKSON…
JOHNSON MO…LAFAYETTE…LIVINGSTON…PETTIS…PLATTE…
RANDOLPH…RAY AND SALINE.

* FROM SATURDAY EVENING THROUGH MONDAY EVENING

* HEAVY RAINS MAY LEAD TO LOCALIZED FLOODING THIS WEEKEND INTO EARLY
NEXT WEEK. BASIN AREAL RAINFALL AVERAGES OF 2 TO 3 INCHES WILL BE
POSSIBLE THROUGH THE PERIOD…HOWEVER LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS CANNOT
BE RULED OUT.

* MANY RIVERS AND STREAMS ARE RUNNING AT ELEVATED LEVELS DUE TO HEAVY
RAINS EXPERIENCED EARLIER THIS WEEK. ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL
THIS WEEKEND WILL LIKELY LEAD TO ADDITIONAL RISES AND POSSIBLE
FLOODING TO SUSCEPTIBLE AREAS.

A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS MAY DEVELOP THAT LEAD TO
FLASH FLOODING. FLASH FLOODING IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION.

YOU SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION
SHOULD FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS BE ISSUED.

A man who arrived at a Platte County hotel with a plan to rape with a 13-year-old girl to the verge of unconsciousness has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Christopher D. Craig, 36, of Kansas City, received the sentence on May 21 after being found guilty in a December 2014 trial of attempted enticement of a child and attempted statutory rape in the first degree.

Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd said, “In all my years as a prosecutor, I have seen very few cases where a defendant’s plan to sexually abuse a child was so deliberate, so detailed, and so disgusting. I believe this man is dangerous, and the public should be aware as long as he remains at large.”

In April 2013, a Platte County Sheriff’s deputy conducted an undercover sting operations on a website that pedophiles are known to frequent. The officer posed as the mother of a 13-year-old girl.

Craig contacted the purported mother and, after some discussion, sent a text message offering to give the child “the full lesson on how to please a man properly and would involve all three orifices.” Over the next few months, Craig continued to correspond with the purported mother. After more texts, Craig arranged to meet the child at a hotel in Kansas City.

While planning his liaison with the child, Craig emailed the mother a 15-point plan detailing the ways he would rape, sodomize, and abuse the child. The plan graphically described various sex acts that Craig intended to inflict upon the child, including sadomasochistic abuse. Among other things, the plan stated, “if [the child] has not passed out and she is feeling brave we will move on to [another sexual act].”

On July 22, 2013, Craig traveled to the hotel in Platte County with condoms, personal lubricant, and latex gloves, intending to meet the 13-year-old for sex. Instead of meeting the child, Craig was arrested by Platte County Sheriff’s Deputies.

Craig admitted to investigators that he would have had sex with the child if she would have been willing.

Zahnd said, “Thank goodness this case did not involve an actual child, but the defendant made it very clear he would have completed the acts if given the opportunity. Those who would rape and abuse children deserve long prison sentences, and we did all that we could to send this defendant to prison for as long as possible.”

At sentencing, Craig’s friends and family, including his wife Audrey Craig, and father, Charles R. Craig, Jr., filed letters on his behalf pleading for leniency. Prosecutors argued for consecutive 12-year sentences, for a total of 24 years. The Court imposed concurrent sentences of 10 years on each count.

Craig remains free on a $100,000 cash bond pending appeal. Zahnd’s office requested the bond be increased after Craig was convicted, but the court denied that request.

This case was investigated by Platte County Sheriff’s Department detectives assigned to the Western Missouri Cyber Crime Task Force. It was prosecuted by Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys Myles Perry and Chris Seufert.

An art exhibit opens Friday night in downtown St Joseph that shows off many different forms of “resistance.”

Dooley Lawrence says the name “Resistance” was bestowed upon his exhibition by his collaborator Carla Malone Steck, and Json Myers, the operator of the International Trucking Service Gallery at 803 Francis. The show features a pair of “zen gardens” complete with unusual ceramic works. You’ll also notice some of the resistance offered by the ropes, racks and other shelving apparatus used to display Mr Lawrence’s work.

Lawrence says one of his favorite things to do is to manage the very lengthy firing process that leads to his finished works. He uses the “Anagama” firing method, a process developed thousands of years ago by peasants in the far east. Mr Lawrence built his own Anagama kiln at his home.

The firing of a new batch of works is a ten-day, 24-hour-a-day process that requires his nearly-constant attention. Detailed and timed cooling is also essential, and can last upwards of 21 days.

“My first experience was with a small, wood-fired kiln that I built, that fired in about 18 to 24 hours,” Lawrence says in an interview.

“Now I enjoyed doing that, but when I read about these Anagama kilns, that were fired for multiple days, nine, ten, up to 20 days, and the photographs of the works coming out of them, those two things together, I knew this is what I wanted to do.”

Mr Lawrence says his finished products stir some primitive emotions. The process, he says, is “…ancient in its aesthetic qualities, simple, and basic, but it goes beyond a manufactured object.”

“This is the first kiln that humans built that were able to reach high temperatures, hot enough to melt wood ash. So you’re firing this kiln for several days. the ash from the wood settles on the shoulders of the pots, and the temperature gets significantly hotter, so hot that the ash on those pots melts.”

Lawrence says his works have a unique kind of beauty, “not something that can be applied with a brush or a sprayer, or by dunking or dipping.”

The exhibition “Resistance” opens Friday night (June 22) and continues through the end of June at the International Truck Service Gallery, next door to Goode Food Delivered at 803 Francis.  They’ll offer field trips and wheel throwing demonstrations for free.  Call (816) 617-7543 to make an appointment.

Some special events are planned for the opening reception Friday night, including musical performances from Lawrence’s daughter Dansare. She is one of the vocalists in a local favorite, the band “Eylit.”

Saturday is the grand opening and ribbon-cutting for the first off-leash dog park in Saint Joseph. Kappy Hodges of Friends of the Animal Shelter says it’s a new experience for everyone, and owners will have to be alert if their dogs get too excited with others.

The dog park is located northwest of Corby Pond, near 22nd and Marion. The grand opening, or “Howl-a-palooza,” starts at 11 am. Ribbon-cutting is set for noon, and entire event will end by 2. Membership in the dog park costs $5, and responsibilities and regulations go with membership.  For more information click here.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Routine bridge maintenance will close two bridges over U.S. Route 36 in St. Joseph next week, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation.

On Wednesday, May 27, 2015, crews will close the Agency Road Bridge over U.S. 36, just west of 28th Street. The closure will begin at 8 a.m. and the road should reopen to all traffic at the same day. On Thursday, May 28, 2015, crews will close the 33rd Street Bridge over U.S. 36 beginning at 8 a.m.

The work should only take one day to complete.

All planned work is weather permitting and schedules could change. Motorists will need to plan an alternate route during the closures.

JEFFERSON CITY – The Missouri Department of Transportation has issued a travel warning for motorists heading westbound on Interstate 70 in western Missouri over the Memorial Day weekend. Due to a bridge deck replacement on I-70 at the Blackwater River bridge in Saline County, westbound traffic is reduced to one lane. In recent weekends, motorists have been experiencing an hour delay in this work zone near mile marker 77.

Motorists heading to Kansas City for the weekend for the St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals ballgame series or returning home after leaving the Lake of the Ozarks are advised to use Route 50 or Route 36 as alternate routes to westbound I-70.

Motorists can check real-time travel delays online at MoDOT’s Traveler Information map at http://traveler.modot.org/map or call 1-888-ASK-MODOT (275-6636). MoDOT’s Traveler Information Map is available as a free app for iPhone and Android phone.