“I lost my career but I am grateful I could have lost more.”
Former Caldwell County Deputy Brett O’Dell lost his career after stealing money and prescription drugs from the evidence vault. You already know that side of the story. Now he wants to tell you the other side.
Addiction, a 5-part series about Brett’s struggle starts Monday 2/23/15 on 680 KFEQ and http://www.stjosephpost.com/.
Listen to 680 KFEQ during 5:30 p.m. hour or watch for it at http://www.stjosephpost.com/ at 8 p.m.
Cheryl Jones had no idea that what was lying underneath her bills could definitely help pay a lot of bills! The 49-year-old Atchison woman had purchased a Mega Millions ticket for the January 6 drawing. When she saw that no one had hit the $206 million jackpot, she put the ticket aside without checking to see if she’d won another prize.
“I figured I would deal with it later,” Jones disclosed.
It wasn’t until last week that Jones remembered the ticket, had her daughter check it, and received a pleasant surprise! Jones had matched four of the first five numbers, plus the Megaball, in the January 6 drawing. She would have won $5,000, but because she had also purchased the Megaplier option, she tripled her prize to $15,000. The Megaplier number for the drawing was 3. Megaplier costs an extra $1 per play and multiplies all prizes won, except for the jackpot.
“I always play Quick Pick and I always get the Megaplier,” said a very happy Jones. “I figure an extra dollar won’t hurt and it might help, a lot!”
Cheryl Jones is a school lunch lady at USD 409 in Atchison and also cooks for Genesis Healthcare in Highland. Jones and her husband Henry told Lottery officials they would use the prize money to pay off all their bills and remodel their bathroom.
“This is a real Godsend for us right now,” Henry Jones said. “Our bathroom really needs repairs, and we couldn’t have done them any other way.”
The lucky $15,000 Mega Millions ticket was purchased at Lutz Brothers Oil, located at 405 Utah Avenue in Atchison.
Vatterott College’s Salon Cosmetique plans to close its doors permanently in St. Joseph Saturday.
Signs on the door at its location at 3709 N Belt Hwy said “Salon Cosmetique will be closed completely as of 2/14.”
When St. Joseph Post contacted Vatterrott to ask about the closure a representative told us on the phone that the school is transitioning out of the program here in St. Joseph.
Another sign posted at the salon said Saturday “will be the last day to service cosmetology clients. 
Clients with an existing appointment for Saturday will be served as per their appointment. Clients without an appointment will not be served.”
According to Vatterott’s website the mission of Salon Cosmetique is to provide students with “real-life training while students provide the client with a rejuvenating salon experience.”
The trade schools stated online that students who work at the salon gain experience by performing cosmetics work on clients from the community.
Susanne O’Meara-Mrkvicka said she used to go to the salon often.
“Made a great place to do girl’s day outs with my granddaughter,” she said.
O’Meara-Mrkvicka said she felt bad for the students because she feels the school is leaving them in a lurch.
St. Joseph Post tried contacting Vatterott around 1 p.m. Friday to ask why the salon is closing in St. Joseph and we are still waiting for a media spokesperson to call us back.
Salon Cosmetique still has three locations according to its website offering services. Those locations listed include Fairview Heights, Ill, St. Charles, Mo. and Kansas City, Mo.
The St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce has announced St. Joseph Mayor Bill Falkner will give his State of the City address during the chamber’s St. Joe Rising Event scheduled for Friday, Feb. 20.
The Chamber said in a news release that St. Joe Rising events feature issues involving social, economic, governmental, legislative and corporate activities that are of concern to Chamber members.
The event featuring Mayor Falkner will be held at 7:30 a.m., Friday, Feb. 20, at the Holiday Inn Conference Center, 102 S. Third St. The deadline to register is Tuesday, Feb. 17. The cost is $15 for Chamber members and $25 for general admission. A continental breakfast will be served.
A video of the mayor’s speech will be available online on the City of St. Joseph website by the end of the day on Tuesday. It also will be shown on Cable Channel 19.
St. Joseph School District Chief Operating Officer Rick Hartigan made a statement Thursday about the St. Joseph School District Board of Education’s decision to place him on paid administrative leave last month.
“The Board of Education has humiliated me and my family,” Hartigan read from his prepared statement. “I can’t understand Why. I have been disgraced in the community and they don’t seem to care.”
Hartigan met with reporters from St. Joseph and a reporter from Kansas City to read a prepared statement which you can read here: Hartigan’s Prepared Statement
He said he has not been told why he was suspended but that he’s preparing for another blind interview about secret allegations.
“I’ll do it,” Hartigan said. “But how can I prepare if I don’t get the chance to know what it’s about?”
School Board Member Kappy Hodges attended the conference to hear Hartigan’s statement. Hodges told reporters afterwards that she does not feel the board has intentionally hurt Hartigan.
“He’s still on paid administrative leave pending investigation,” said Hodges. “I’m sure it’s tough, it’s tough all around.”
Hartigan said he feels it’s time for the board to stop holding secret meetings and secret reports.
“I believe it’s time this process be done in public and in a fair and unbiased way,” Hartigan said. “I respectfully request the board do its work in public view. I’m not afraid of the truth. The board shouldn’t be either.”
No questions were taken from reporters after the statement was made.
State audit findings into the St. Joseph School District are scheduled to be released to the public by State Auditor Tom Schweich Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Oak Grove Elementary. The meeting is open to the public and Schweich has said he will take questions from the audience.
St. Joseph, Mo. – One individual who bought a Powerball ticket in St. Joseph could be $10,000 richer.
According to the Missouri Lottery the winning $10,000 ticket was purchased at the Speedy Convenience store located at 4007 Frederick Ave.
“Players in Missouri won more than $3.6 million last night, so they should check their tickets closely,” said May Scheve Reardon, executive director of the Missouri Lottery.
Missouri Powerball players have 180 days from the drawing to claim their winning tickets, which, in this case, is Aug. 10.
Three Missouri Powerball players are also now millionaires from the last night’s $500 million jackpot drawing. Those players matched all five white-ball numbers – 11-13-25-39-54 – but not the Powerball to win the $1 million second-level prize. The three winning tickets were sold at: Gas Mart II, 902 S. Broadway in St. Louis; Spanky’s Sports Bar, 5230 Blue Ridge Blvd. in Raytown; and Warrenton Fast Lane, 1010 N. Highway 47 in Warrenton.
Fox, 48, was taken into custody Wednesday after officers executed a search warrant at an apartment located in the 200 block of Arizona.
Other residents in the four-plex were evacuated, and the Special Response Team was called in, after officials learned the suspect might have been armed. The Buchanan County Sheriff’s Department, the Drug Strike Force, St Joseph police, and the Special Response Team took part in the raid Wednesday morning.
The department said Fox was taken into custody without incident after a lengthy refusal to surrender.
Authorities said Meth was recovered from the scene as well as evidence from other crimes that have taken place in Buchanan and Andrew Counties.
Fox is currently being held under 75,000 bond.
MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest students who are employed by Maryville Hy-Vee or are dependents of employees at the local store are now eligible to receive scholarship assistance through the newly established Larry Neal Memorial Scholarship Fund.
The Neal family provided a cash gift of $10,000 to set up the scholarship fund, which remains open and capable of receiving additional contributions at any time. A selection committee that includes the manager of the Maryville Hy-Vee store and Northwest staff members will award one $1,000 scholarship annually, with academic achievement and financial need as the leading criteria.
“We were very fortunate and very appreciative that the community, family and friends very generously honored Larry with their memorials,” Larry Neal’s widow, Connie, said. “We wanted to establish a scholarship in his name because of his connection to Hy-Vee and the Hy-Vee family for so long.”
Neal, who passed away in August, was employed at Hy-Vee for 46 years as a meat cutter and shared a special connection with the company, its customers and its employees, many of whom are Northwest students. He embodied the five fundamentals Hy-Vee asks its employees to reflect – friendliness, dedication, honesty, employee ownership and helpfulness.
“He was not only dedicated to his family, but he was also very dedicated to Hy-Vee,” said Chris Wiltfong, director of the Maryville store. “For him to leave a scholarship in his wake for other employees who have the same ethics, it speaks incredibly of Larry and very much of the culture of our company. My hope is the people down the road who are awarded this scholarship really do aspire to and live up to the same ideals Larry did.”
Larry was especially proud of the connections he established with Northwest students through his work. For that reason, the Neal family made sure Northwest students would benefit from the scholarship.
“Larry worked with a lot of young people and was often upset if they had to stop going to school,” Connie said. “He was always encouraging them to finish their education programs.”
Although Larry did not earn his degree from Northwest, Connie and the couple’s two children did. Connie earned her degree in 1990 as a non-traditional student. Their son, Kevin Neal, earned his bachelor’s degree in geography in 1994. Their daughter, Nicole Neal Shields, earned a bachelor’s in elementary education in 1995 and a master’s in educational leadership elementary in 2005.
“He was very proud of that and that so many of the kids he worked with at Hy-Vee were Northwest students,” Connie said.
The Neals lived three stints in Maryville, beginning in 1973, as Hy-Vee transferred Larry to work at stores in other locales. The friendly Maryville community and the environment at Northwest kept pulling the family back.
“One of the reasons we came here was we wanted the kids to grow up in a college town,” Connie said, adding that she and Larry hoped Kevin and Nicole might realize the importance of earning a college degree through their exposure to the University. “We both just really liked Northwest and going to ball games. Because of our family experiences and his association, we know it’s a great school.”
Northwest Vice President of University Advancement Mike Johnson said, “It is never easy losing such a valued member of our community and Bearcat family. Larry’s memory is lasting because of all he believed in and contributed to supporting employees seeking a Northwest Missouri State University education.”
For more information about the Larry Neal Memorial Scholarship Fund or Northwest Foundation Inc., call 660.562.1248 or send an email to advance@nwmissouri.edu.
Around 60 people attended the first 1MC meeting Wednesday at the St. Joseph Public Library East Hills Mall location.
It was the first of what is expected to become weekly meetings for individuals in St. Joseph to take part in the 1MC program modeled after the Kansas City meeting which offer local businesses a chance to share with others.
The meetings include weekly presentations as well as coffee and networking opportunities for local entrepreneurs.
1MC of Greater St. Joseph meets at the St. Joseph Public Library-East Hills Mall location, 502 N. Woodbine Road, St. Joseph, MO 64506 every Wednesday at 9 a.m.
For more information click here.
St. Joseph, Mo – Mosaic Life Care responded Wednesday to Senator Grassley’s inquiry into the hospital’s billing practices and ownership of Northwest Financial Services.
In a News release issued by Mosaic it said a task force has been formed to research and make recommendations to the Board of Trustees to move the organization toward a more proactive navigation for patients.
“We appreciate Senator Grassley’s interests surrounding community benefit and nonprofit organizations,” said Tama Wagner, Chief Branding Officer at Mosaic Life Care. “I feel confident that Senator Grassley will be pleased with our response and the fact that we exceed IRS regulations for nonprofit hospitals and the amount of community benefit we provide as a nonprofit hospital.”
To read Mosaic’s full response to Senator Grassley click here.
Mosaic Life Care has requested that if you have concerns about your medical bills to please contact their billing department at 816-271-7524.
