Post Staff – Page 770 – St. Joseph Post Archive

Hoax leads to SWAT team response in Saint Joseph

Posted on February 3, 2015

A Saint Joseph teenager playing an online game got “swatted” Monday night, triggering a Special Response Team action in the South End. Officers surrounded a house in the 200 block of Michigan after a call that an intruder shot a man and woman and was inside the house. Sergeant Brett Kelly says it turned out there was no intruder and no one had been shot.

The teenager told police an out-of-state opponent in an online game had threatened to “swat” him, and apparently did.

“Swatting” involves filing a false report that causes a SWAT or SRT to respond to a location. This type of dangerous hoax has occurred in other places around the country, is against the law, and is roundly condemned by law enforcement officials.

In the Saint Joseph incident there were no injuries and no arrests.

Kansas House debating bill to balance state’s current budget

Posted on February 3, 2015

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas House members are preparing to debate a bill for eliminating a projected shortfall of more than $330 million in the state’s current budget.

The bill up for discussion Tuesday would mostly divert highway funds and shift other funds around to patch holes in the funding for general government programs. The shortfall is in the state’s main bank account.

The state’s budget problems arose after lawmakers aggressively cut personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Gov. Sam Brownback’s urging to stimulate the economy.

The current budget runs through June. Brownback’s budget director has said lawmakers need to approve adjustments by Feb. 13 to ensure the state keeps paying bills on time.

The state faces an additional $436 million budget shortfall for the next fiscal year beginning July 1.

Affidavit: suspect struck baby “because the child was crying and being very fussy”

Posted on February 3, 2015

A St Joseph man accused of seriously injuring a 15-month old baby is charged with Assault, Child Abuse and Child Endangerment.

According to court documents, 24-year-old Zachary Kerns-Poe struck the child with a plastic object because the youngster was crying and he “just couldn’t handle it anymore.”

Kerns-Poe is being held without bond pending a first appearance Tuesday.

In court documents, an investigator says officers and paramedics were dispatched to an address on Jennifer Lane in Country Club Village. There they found the child unresponsive. The infant was taken to Mosaic Life Care and transfered to Children’s Mercy Hospital, where doctors performed emergency surgery for massive head trauma. Officials say the child remains in serious to critical condition.

Officers with the Andrew County Sheriff’s Office and the Missouri State Highway Patrol interviewed Mr Kerns-Poe. They say he confessed to causing the child’s injuries. According to a court affidavit, the suspect said he used “a plastic object” to strike the child in the head several times.

He said he struck the child “almost” as hard as he could, adding he could “even hear the swooshing sound of the object” going by his ear.

According to the investigators, “Zachary stated that he was tired and the child was crying and being very fussy and he just couldn’t handle it anymore.”

Construction accident at Vanier Football Complex under investigation

Posted on February 2, 2015

A view of the Vanier Construction site on Monday- courtesy KSU

MANHATTAN — An investigation is underway into the cause of a workplace accident at the Vanier Football complex construction site.

Kansas State University police major Don Stubbings said first responders were dispatched to the site just after 10:30 a.m. on Monday.

A concrete form fell on a worker. One person was transported to Mercy Regional Health Center for not-life threatening injuries.

Eleven fire department personnel, three EMS and five police officers responded, along with members of the K-State environmental health and safety team. The environmental health and safety team is in charge of investigating the accident.

Trial scheduled for man accused of abusing, and marrying, adopted daughter

Posted on February 2, 2015February 3, 2015

A 43-year-old Alaska man accused of sexually abusing his adopted daughter over many years and in many locations is being held in Buchanan County pending trial on charges of rape, sodomy, child molestation and incest.

The trial of Owen Melvin Miller was moved here from Andrew County on a change of venue.

Miller and his wife have seven adopted children, and several of them were allegedly sexually abused.

According to court documents, Mr Miller married one of the adopted children in a ceremony in Savannah, Missouri in August, 2002.

The children told investigators here and in Wasilla, Alaska about years of physical abuse and neglect. According to court documents, the children recounted several incidents of being locked ino the basement, the attic, or outside. They say they were forced to go two days or more without food if they got into trouble. The two victims said they would unhinge a padlocked bedroom door and then crawl through a hole in the wall to sneak food out of a deep freeze in the garage. The children said they warmed that food on a furnace.

Miller is charged with one count each of statutory rape, statutory sodomy, and incest, and two counts of child molestation.

He is being held under $250,000 bond. A judge in Buchanan County scheduled a pre-trial conference in August and a jury trial is set for September 14.

Jeep recalls Cherokees for air bag problem

Posted on February 2, 2015

DETROIT (AP) — Jeep is recalling more than 228,000 SUVs worldwide to fix a software problem that can cause side air bags to inflate for no reason.

The recall covers Jeep Cherokees from the 2014 and 2015 model years.

Fiat Chrysler, which makes Jeeps, says there have been a small number of inadvertent air bag deployments. Canadian safety regulators say the problem occurred mainly in off-road situations. Sudden air bag inflation can startle drivers and cause crashes, but Chrysler says it’s not aware of any accidents or injuries.

Most of the recalled vehicles are in the U.S. and Canada. Dealers will recalibrate the software to change the threshold for inflating the air bags.

The problem is the latest in a string of auto industry troubles with air bags.

Light voter turnout expected in Tuesday’s sewer bond election

Posted on February 2, 2015

Voters in St Joseph will be asked Tuesday to authorize $190 million in bonds to complete the next phase of the city’s Long Term Control Plan to reduce sewer overflows into the Missouri River.

Buchanan County Clerk Mary Baack-Garvey expects voter turnout to be light.

“I think it is going to be very, very low,” Baack-Garvey said. “The one-issue ballots just don’t seem to bring out the turnout.”

“The weather, of course, isn’t cooperating with us again, unfortunately, but it is supposed to be warmer, so I’m hoping we can hit ten percent.”

If approved by voters, the City Council will be eligible to apply for bonds issued through the State Revolving Fund. The interest rate on such bonds is typically half of the normal rate, saving the city about $53 million over the life of the 20-year bonds.

St. Joseph is one of 770 cities in the country, and one of three in the state of Missouri (along with Kansas City and St. Louis), that have a combined sewer system that carries stormwater and wastewater in the same pipe. As a result, officials here are faced with federal and state mandates to reduce discharges of stormwater mixed with raw sewage that overflows into the Missouri River.

Kansas tribes, governor’s office talking about compact

Posted on February 2, 2015

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Officials with northeast Kansas American Indian tribes have had preliminary discussions with Gov. Sam Brownback on gaining more control over revenue and spending on their lands.

A previous compact with the state allowed tribes to collect some state taxes on products sold on their lands and keep some of the revenue for their programs.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Steve Cadue, former chairman of the Kickapoo Nation, says Brownback expressed support for the idea last year but that was before the state was facing multi-million dollar budget deficits.

Brownback’s spokeswoman, Eileen Hawley, say the governor has informally discussed a variety of issues, including taxes, with the four Kansas tribes but the talks are in the early stages and it’s unlikely a compact will be part of this year’s budget.

Bill proposes Kan. home-schooled students on public school groups

Posted on February 2, 2015

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A bill before the Kansas Senate would allow home-schooled students to participate in public school sports and activities.

The measure would allow any student living in a school district to participate in any activity offered by the district for four consecutive school years, even if the student graduates before the fourth year.

The bill, which is awaiting a hearing in the Education Committee, is opposed by the Kansas State High School Activities Association. Gary Musselman, executive director of the association, says public school students have to earn eligibility and are held to strict standards before they can participate.

Supporters say the bill could benefit small, rural schools that often don’t have enough students for an activity.

The Wichita Eagle reports the Senate Education Committee will consider the bill.

Defendant in Kansas officer death incompetent for trial

Posted on February 2, 2015

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A man who prosecutors say helped a gunman escape after he fatally shot a Topeka police officer has been found incompetent to stand trial.

A Shawnee County court has ordered 31-year-old Randy Allen Ridens Jr. of Topeka to be sent to Larned State Hospital for mental evaluation.

Ridens is charged with obstructing the apprehension of 30-year-old Ross Preston Lane. Ridens allegedly drove Lane out of town on a stolen motorcycle.

Investigators say Lane fatally shot police Cpl. Jason Harwood in September. He is charged with capital murder of a law enforcement officer and weapons charges. He has pleaded not guilty.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that in January, a psychiatrist found Ridens incompetent to stand trial. He was committed to Larned for no more than 90 days of treatment.