Within hours of the fire that gutted the historic First Ward House saloon, a second fire erupted less than a block away.
The St Joseph Fire Department responded to the report of a destructive fire at 2002 St Joseph Avenue at 1:34am. It soon escalated into a two-alarm fire as crews called in for additional manpower and trucks.
Multiple structures were fully engulfed in flames, and by 3am at least one business, the Rumours Salon at St Joe Avenue and Jefferson Street, had been destroyed.
Crews deployed two aerial trucks, and both were pouring water on the structures from above.
Ryan Gerster, the owner of the First Ward House, received a phone call ten minutes after leaving the nightclub, and was told that “the fire was substantial.”
Gerster says there were six employees and 45 customers in the saloon when the fire broke out. He had high praise for his staff. “My employees handled the evacuation of the building, my kitchen manager had shut off the gas line on his way out.”
“I’m very thankful for the people that I had here working, because there were no casualties of any kind. Thank God there weren’t.”
St Joseph Fire Department Battalion Chief Paris Jenkins says the fire started on a deck off the rear of the structure, but by the time his crews arrived, the fire had also involved the east end of the structure. Jenkins says nine units and 29 crew members responded to help put out the fire. That does not include numerous police officers and city yards employees.
The fire, at 2101 St Joseph Avenue, required officials to close the avenue for several hours. Damage was extensive.
“The exterior walls appear to be okay,” Jenkins says, “however it is heavily damaged.” Chief Jenkins could offer no assessment on if, or when, the club might be able to reopen.
“I don’t know where we’re headed from here,” said the owner Ryan Gerster. “I can tell you that the Ward has burned down twice before. I remember when Norty’s burned down too, and there’s still a Norty’s in St Joe. So, I’m hopeful right now.”
Gerster hopes to reopen the nightclub. “I don’t see why I wouldn’t,” he said.
A team was expected to remain on scene overnight. Smoke continued to pour from an old tree in the center of the bar’s deck, and another one across the street. Chief Jenkins says both trees are hollow and continued to burn after the structure fire had been knocked down. Jenkins says both trees will likely need to be cut down. That’s not going to be an easy task, as both are about 100 feet tall. There are buildings, street traffic and electric lines in the way.
Shortly after 7:30 Tuesday evening, dispatchers received the report of a brush fire near McArthur and Water Works Road.
This is in the same area as the fire Sunday that prompted evacuations and closures.
Officials say a hot spot from the fire on Sunday flared up. Crews were still on the scene by 8pm, but officials had the matter under control.
So many fire units were busy Tuesday evening that the St Joseph Fire Department stopped responding to emergency medical calls, at least until a few more units were freed up.
The “Oldest Saloon West of the Mississippi” was gutted by fire Tuesday evening.
A blaze at the First Ward House at 2101 St Joseph Avenue spread to a business, a residence and a tree across Grand Avenue. By 7:15pm about 100 people were milling about the neighborhood watching fire destroy the historic structure.
No injuries were reported. A witness says there were about 40 patrons inside the club when the fire broke out. They all made it out safely.
St Joseph Police were blocking traffic on Grand Avenue and St Joseph Avenue.
Photo by Kansas Health Foundation The state of Kansas and four nonprofit organizations are seeking federal approval to conduct an experiment that they hope will boost participation in a summer meals program. The project would feed children at congregate sites one day but send them home with packaged meals for the next day.
By Jim McLean
The state of Kansas and four nonprofit organizations are seeking federal approval to conduct an experiment that they hope will boost participation in a summer meals program that now is serving only a fraction of eligible children.
Led by the Kansas State Department of Education, the coalition is asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to temporarily waive some rules so that it can conduct a demonstration project to feed needy children in rural parts of the state when school is out for the summer.
Last year, fewer than 7 percent of Kansas children who were eligible for free or reduced-price lunches during the school year took advantage of the Summer Food Service Program. One of the biggest reasons for the low participation was the fact that there were no meal sites in 44 rural counties.
Cheryl Johnson, director of child nutrition and wellness for KSDE, said federal rules that require children to travel to congregate meal sites could be part of the problem. The waiver would test that theory by allowing KSDE and its nonprofit partners to feed children at congregate sites one day but send them home with packaged meals for the next day.
“Parents wouldn’t have to drive their children to the congregate site each day,” Johnson said. “There would be the benefits of the congregate meal — the socialization and the activities — on some days, but they would also have healthy nutrition the following day without the transportation costs.”
The Kansas Food Bank, Harvesters Community Food Network, Kansas Health Foundation and Kansas Appleseed joined with KSDE to submit the waiver request on Feb. 20.
“Kansas ranks 48th in the nation in the number of children fed when school is not in session,” the applicants wrote in the justification section of the proposal. “We would like to evaluate in specific rural communities in Kansas whether the opportunity to provide meals at a congregate site a minimum of two to three days per week with shelf-stable meals for the other days of the week would encourage and increase participation in rural areas of Kansas and thus decrease food insecurity among Kansas children.”
KSDE and its partners hope to use the demonstration project and other initiatives to increase the number of meals served this summer to 1.4 million, a 20 percent increase over last year. The overall cost of the summer meals program would rise if participation increased, but the demonstration project wouldn’t generate any additional administrative costs, according to the waiver application.
The food bank, which is based in Wichita, and the Harvesters network, which is based in the Kansas City area, would recruit volunteers to staff 12 demonstration-project sites.
A Summer Meals Summit convened in January by the Kansas Health Foundation helped prompt the idea for the demonstration project. At that summit, Audrey Rowe, the administration of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, said many of the tens of thousands of Kansas children who qualify for free and reduced-price meals during the school year go hungry in the summer.
“Summer is when food insecurity among children increases dramatically,” Rowe said. “With our partners in the states, we’re looking at ways to address that gap.”
Filling the gaps in rural areas of the state may not be the only challenge faced by state officials and the more than 120 sponsors of the summer meals programs.
Recent cuts in K-12 funding ordered by Gov. Sam Brownback to help avert state budget shortfalls have prompted the Topeka school district and some others to contemplate shutting down their meal sites. KSDE is working on a contingency plan, Johnson said. “We are working with community organizations in advance trying to come up with ways we can still try to meet the need if we do have reduced school sites,” she said.
In addition, Johnson said, KSDE is waiting to see if USDA offers funding to help states and volunteer organizations transform buses and vans into rolling meal dispensaries. If funding is available, Johnson said, several school districts and site sponsors are eager to take meals to “wherever kids might be during the summer.”
That could be community swimming pools, baseball fields, libraries or even “the Walmart parking lot,” she said.
Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A dispute over whether Kansas must boost spending on its public schools by tens of millions of dollars each year is headed back to the state’s highest court.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office notified a three-judge Shawnee County District Court panel this week that the state will appeal the panel’s latest ruling in a lawsuit filed in 2010.
The panel ruled in December that the state must spend at least $548 million more annually to fulfill its duty under the state constitution to provide a suitable education to every child.
The state both appealed to the Supreme Court and asked the panel to reconsider. The high court told the lower court March 5 to review the state’s request to reconsider.
But the panel last week reaffirmed its December ruling.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita police say that a man accused of stealing air-conditioning units has been federally indicted.
The Wichita Eagle reports that Byron Stuckey faces three counts of venting a Class II substance for releasing Freon, a gas used as a refrigerant, when he allegedly cut copper tubing in units he stole in 2012 and 2014. Stuckey is currently imprisoned at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility in connection with the 2014 theft as well as forgery, identity theft and misdemeanor theft convictions from Sedgwick County.
Police announced the indictment Monday after working with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Kansas City office. According to Capt. Jose Salcido, the indictment redefines the way police will go after people who steal air conditioners.
Each count carries a potential sentence of five year in prison, and $250,000 in fines.
Court records did not have an attorney listed for Stuckey.
PITTSBURG – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday in Cherokee County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2012 John Deere tractor driven by Dale G. Roberds, 85, Pittsburg, was westbound on the shoulder of Kansas Highway 171 three miles east of U.S. 169.
The tractor turned left in front of a semi.
The truck struck the tractor’s front left wheel.
Roberds was transported to Via Christi. The semi driver was not injured.
ST. JOSEPH – Robert Dean Cook 57, passed away Sunday March 15, 2015 at Mosaic Life Care.
He was born February 26, 1958 in St. Joseph, son of Shirley and Robert Cook. He attended Central high school. He worked at Deluxe Truck Stop as a Maintenance Technician. He was a person who loved life and enjoyed people.
Robert was preceded in death by his parents; a son, Sean Cook; and his grandmother, Eva Bowen.
He is survived by sons, Robert D. Cook, III of Grandview, Mo., Thomas Cook of St. Joseph, and Austin Lewis of Grandview; a sister, Bobbie Wright of Saint Joseph; brother, Steven Cook of St. Joseph; former wife, Penny Clark; nephew, Mike (Karrie) Wright; three grandchildren, Melody, Kierston, and Sean; and four great-nieces and nephews, Devyn, Michael, Katelyn and Timmy Wright. He will be cremated under the care and direction of the Rupp Funeral Home. There are no scheduled visitation or memorial services at this time. Online condolence and obituary at www.ruppfuneral.com
ST. JOSEPH – Richard Lawrence Broce 81, passed away Saturday March 14, at the home of his daugther in St. Joseph.
He was born June 15, 1933 in Halls, Mo., son of Ann and Carl Broce. He worked for Andrew County as a Heavy Equipment Operator. He served in the Army during the Korean War. He was a member of Union Local #518 Operators Cement Mason’s Union International.
Richard was preceded in death by his parents; a sister; Wilma Couldry, his wife and mother of his children; Robert Bair.
He is survived by daughter, Ruth Swafford; two sons, Tom Broce of Amazonia, Mo., and Carl Broce of St. Joseph; a brother, Dearl Parker; two sisters, Wanda Letchworth, and Louise Gillip; his long time Companion, Janet Swarthout; six grandchildren; twelve great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m., Thursday, at Rupp Funeral Home. The inurnment will follow with full military honors at the Bennet Lane Cemetery. He will be cremated under the care and direction of the Rupp Funeral Home. Online condolence and obituary at www.ruppfuneral.com
