An inmate in the Livingston County Jail is now being held in maximum security after he tried to make a weapon out of a toothbrush.
A Sheriff dispatcher monitoring closed-circuit surveillance observed the male. He allegedly had a tooth brush with a partially sharpened end. The tooth brush resembled a weapon.
For safety concerns, Sheriff Steve Cox says he’s being held in what’s described as maximum security.
It’s been 31 years this month since a small Northwest Missouri town went silent. On July 10th of 1981, Ken Rex McElroy, known as the town bully, was killed after leaving a bar in Skidmore. And even with around 50 witnesses that day, no one was speaking. Harry MacLean was a lawyer before he turned to writing. But after researching the story of McElroy, he started his journey of trying to tell the story. So came his book “In Broad Daylight.”
Listen to the story as heard on 680-KFEQ[audio:http://www.stjosephpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/072012.mp3|titles=KFEQ Journal]
“The first book came out in 1988, almost 1989. And it was a ‘New York Times’ bestseller and was made into a movie by the same name,” MacLean said. “And it won an Edgar award, which is the highest award a True Crime book can win.”
More recently, on the 25th anniversary, MacLean released an updated version of the book in 2007. MacLean had received more investigative files that he couldn’t get his hands on before the original book was released. So the 2007 version contained a 25 page epilogue.
Then, this month, he released that updated version of the book for the first time as an eBook on www.Amazon.com. And he’s enjoyed the success. The book was rated as a top ten seller in the true crimes category just a week after it was released.
But that’s not all. This fall will bring another eBook. MacLean will release his newest book, titled “About in Broad Daylight.” It’s the story behind the story. There’s plenty of drama that went on while working on the original book, MacLean said.
“Over the years, As I traveled and talked about this book, I received almost as many questions about how I managed to get the story as about the story itself,” he said. “I had a gun drawn on me, I was bitten by a dog, I had my tires slashed. What I ended up doing was living there for almost three years and becoming a part of the community and many people became good friends on mine.”
MacLean keeps in contact with that community. He says he tries to catch and and visit Skidmore almost every year.
“I became very close to them when I lived there and I developed a great affection for many of them and the town itself.” MacLean said. “And I made certain assurances to them that I wouldn’t name the killer and I would try and tell the towns story and so forth. And a lot of them opened up, they trusted me, we became friends and I maintained that relationship with them. It’s quite important to me.”
Meanwhile, it’s been 21 years since the made for TV move debuted. About a month ago, MacLean says he was contacted by a well known, highly respected producer who became obsessed by the story. While he can’t name the producer, he did say he should provide an interesting aspect on the story.
The producer-director is more focused on the atmosphere of the story, including the feeling around the town. It should different and very interesting, according to McLean.
There’s no confirmation the movie will happen or any sort of time-line yet, but they are working on legal issues right now. As for the story, he says it’s slowing down and many of those involved have passed away, including who was widely identified as the killer and McElroy’s wife Trina.
It’s also taking on this kind of mythical folklore tone to it and I think what I’m starting to realize, and frankly, I didn’t realize when I wrote the book that this story is going to be a part of American history.”
MacLean, who resides in Denver now, says he’ll be back to Skidmore hopefully this September, the same time the new eBook comes out.
The hot weather and drought has led to more burn bans in Northwest Missouri.
Andrew County announced a burn ban Thursday until further notice.
An open burn period that was supposed to start Wednesday in Maryville was called off because of the dry conditions. The next open burn period is slated to start in October for Maryville residents.
Savannah officials Wednesday announced a burn ban in the city limits until further notice.
Atchison County Missouri is also now under a burn ban. It was announced Tuesday.
Statewide burn bans for conservation area’s and state parks where issued last month. While not every are of Northwest Missouri is under a burn ban, open burning is not encouraged as fires can start and spread quickly during a drought.
More than $50,000 worth of grants were awarded to northwest Missouri roadway safety initiatives.
The grants, announced Thursday, come from the Northwest Region Coalition for Roadway Safety.
“Our goal as a safety coalition is to partner together to keep people safe on our roads,” says Jackie Spainhower, director of the coalition’s northwest region. “Through education, enforcement, engineering and emergency medical services efforts partnering together, we know we can make a difference to reduce roadway injuries and fatalities and these grants give us the opportunity to do that.”
Twelve applications were received this year, and the following nine were approved for funding:
MoDOT Safety and Education Programs (Battle of the Belt, child passenger safety, TEAM Spirit) – $25,000
St. Joseph I’m A Safe Driver – $5612
Daviess County Sheriff’s Dept/Two Speed Guns – $4343
NW Arrive Alive Transportation Fair – $3750
Cameron PD/MO Safe Streets – $3000
MEATF (SJPD)/Underage Alcohol Enforcement – $3000
Chillicothe PD/Speed Guns – $2595
NW MO Safe Kids Instructor Certification – $2350
University Police Transportation Fair (Maryville) – $1,577
Last year, in the first round of grant awards, more than $35,000 was awarded. Seventeen applications were received and 10 were approved for funding last year as well.
A minor league baseball prospect with the Cincinnati Reds hit an inside the park home run this week and rounded the bases in 13.8 seconds. The shortstop playing for the AA Pensacola Blue Wahoos is known for his speed. He stole 104 bases in 82 games in the first half of the season with a different minor league affiliate of the Reds.
http://youtu.be/wJfmIt6u8h8
An image from NASA shows the impact of the drought across the United States.
The extent of damage to crops is shown in this vegetation anomaly map based on data from the NASA Terra satellite. The map contrasts plant health in the central United States between June 25 and July 10, 2012, against the average conditions between 2002 and 2012. Brown areas show where plant growth was less vigorous than normal; cream colors depict normal levels of growth; and green indicates abnormally lush vegetation. Data was not available in the gray areas due to snow or cloud cover. The image is based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), a measure of how much plant leaves absorb visible light and reflect infrared light. Drought-stressed vegetation reflects more visible light and less infrared than healthy vegetation.
The most severe damage to crops appears to be centered on Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Crops in much of the upper Midwest—southern Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, southern Illinois, western Kentucky, and western Tennessee—also show signs of strain. The drought has been less severe in Iowa, a key corn-growing state.
A Barnard man was flown to Heartland after an accident involving a semi and a farm tractor south of Maryville Tuesday.
A tractor-trailer unit came over a hill in the southbound lane of US 71 Highway and crashed into the back of a John Deere tractor pulling farm equipment.
The Missouri Highway Patrol reports it happened just after 11:00 am at the intersection of Highway 71 and State route M. Driver of the tractor, 59-year-old Ed Lager of Barnard, suffered serious injuries including multiple broken bones and was flown to Heartland for treatment.
49-year-old driver of the semi, David Snow of Joplin, was taken to Maryville for treatment of what’s described as moderate injuries.
Another accident on Highway 71 earlier in the morning sent three to the hospital in Maryville.
A ford truck driven by 77-year-old Mary Williams of Clarinda was turning left from the right southbound lane, and into the path of a Ford Taurus driven by a 13-year-old Kristin Misner of Iowa. Williams was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
Two teenage passengers in the Taurus, ages 15 and 16, were taken to the hospital with minor injuries as well.
There was a slight decline in retail food prices at the supermarket during the second quarter of 2012 according to the American Farm Bureau Federation Marketbasket Survey. This informal survey shows a drop of about three-percent for the total cost of the 16 food items surveyed compared to the first quarter of 2012. The cost for the overall basket of goods – at $50.91 – is down about one-half of one-percent compared to a year ago.
Most of the decrease was due to lower retail prices for sliced meats and dairy products. Farm Bureau Senior Economist John Anderson says the decline in retail meat prices is not unexpected. He says wholesale meat prices trended lower at the end of the first quarter of the year and consumers are now benefitting as retail prices have followed suit.
Prices for shredded cheddar, sliced deli ham, orange juice, bacon, large eggs, toasted oat cereal, bagged salad, apples, sirloin tip roast and flour all decreased in the second quarter – reversing increases of the prior quarter. Whole milk and boneless chicken breasts also decreased in price – continuing the trend from the first quarter. Farm Bureau’s survey showed modest retail price increases for ground chuck, Russet potatoes, white bread and vegetable oil.
Seventy-four shoppers in 28 states participated in Farm Bureau’s Marketbasket Survey for the second quarter. It was conducted in May.
The Environmental Protection Agency withdrew its proposed Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation Reporting Rule late Friday afternoon. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President J.D. Alexander says the move is a victory for cattlemen and women. He notes NCBA called on the EPA to pull the rule early on. The fact that the EPA listened – he says – showcases the importance of cattle producers getting engaged in the regulatory process and making their concerns heard. Alexander says NCBA is encouraging EPA to redirect its focus to working with states and other partners to attain already publicly available information that would allow them to work toward their goal of water quality. He says it can be done in a way that doesn’t put the U.S. food system at increased risk – which was the primary concern of NCBA.
Cattle operations meeting the regulatory definition of a CAFO would have been required to report information about their operations to EPA under the proposed rule. The agency was going to place the information – including latitude and longitude or street address of the production area – on its website in an easily searchable database. NCBA feared extremists could access the information with the intent to do harm to cattle operations or the nation’s food system.
Lack of rain was definitely a big problem for some parts of the country last year. The effects had a big impact on a larger portion of the nation and were expected to be felt for years to come. Now – a drought is stretching across a record-breaking one-thousand-sixteen counties in the U.S. As was the case for cattle producers in Texas and Oklahoma in 2011 – ranchers are finding it difficult to feed their cattle. As a result – they are reducing their herds and selling their cattle to avoid the mounting losses caused by this widespread drought. The New York Times reports that the town of Torrington, Wyoming is an example of just how bad the situation has become. Normally – the Torrington Livestock Markets would be quiet on a Wednesday in the summer months. But they are doing four times as much early-season business as usual. In fact – they auctioned off more than 17-thousand head of cattle last month – compared with around 33-hundred in June of 2011.
Ranchers are losing money – in some cases hundreds of dollars for each animal they sell early – because they are younger and lighter than those fed all summer on prairie grass. For some that will mean the difference between profit and loss. One producer at Torrington said it would take two to three years to recover. He says people are cutting down – but if the drought continues for another year – it could put a lot of people out of business.
The impact could be felt at the supermarket as well. Experts note the sale of cows and calves that otherwise would have produced more cows and calves could ultimately reduce beef production and drive prices higher. USDA most recently projected American beef production to fall by about one-billion pounds this year as compared to 2011. A USDA cattle analyst says U.S. cattle inventories are the lowest they’ve been in several decades. Any plans producers had to expand their herds went out the window with the resurrected drought.
