Northwest Missouri State University’s Emergency and Disaster Management (EDM) Program invites Northwest students, employees and community members to participate in its free Campus Community Emergency Response Team (C-CERT) training in October.

Training will be conducted in Room 1150 of the Garrett-Strong Science Building as well as other University facilities.

Training dates are as follows:

· Thursday, Oct. 23, 6-10 p.m.

· Friday, Oct. 24, 6-10 p.m.

· Saturday, Oct. 25, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

· Sunday, Oct. 26, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

The C-CERT program is a 24-hour Federal Emergency Management Agency course designed to educate citizens about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their communities. The program trains participants in basic disaster response skills, including fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization and disaster medical operations.

Using training learned in the classroom and during exercises, C-CERT participants can assist others in their neighborhood, campus or workplace when professional responders are not immediately available to help.

C-CERT trainers include Dr. Mark Corson, professor of geography, and Matthew Johnson, instructor of history, at Northwest.

In addition to teaching courses within the EDM program, Corson and Johnson are founding members of Northwest’s EDM program and have extensive experience in conducting disaster response training in locations including Florida and The Republic of Macedonia.

EDM students are encouraged to take C-CERT training to fulfill their requirement of 36-491 Field Experience and can register for this fall’s F14 CERT training at http://bit.ly/ccertfall14.

The Emergency and Disaster Management major uses a multi-disciplinary approach to study crisis, drawing from courses and faculty in Geography, Psychology, Social Sciences and Communications. While half the class work involves a crisis management core, electives provide flexibility so that students can tailor the major to their individual and specific academic and professional needs.

For more information, contact Corson at mcorson@nwmissouri.edu or Johnson at mjohnso@nwmissouri.edu. For more information about C-CERT training, visit www.citizencorps.gov/cert.

United Cerebral Palsy of Northwest Missouri has expanded its preschool classroom to better facilitate students attending its Children’s Program.

Children’s program director Heather Weddle said the space was not big enough to accommodate the needs that UCP had.

“We saw a need for more space in our preschool classroom for our 3-year-olds and our 4-year-olds, the space was not allowing us to move around and offer all sorts of activities for children in our classroom and all the children that we serve.”
UCP lead Preschool teacher, Kimberly Cordonnier said she enjoys the bigger space.

“Before we shared a classroom with another classroom and we did not have, it was about half this size so we didn’t have room for all the kids to sit in a circle, and we didn’t have the space for cubbys and we added an extra center.”

UCP serves more than 400 families with adults or children with disabilities each year. Families come to UCP from Buchnanan, Andrew, DeKalb counties and the surrounding areas. Cordonnier says the lessons children learn at UCP have a huge impact on their future, and the extra space is needed to help facilitate that growth.

“If you don’t have the space you have people touching each other, bumping into each other and they don’t have the space to really move around and get the entire experience of the entire classroom,” said Cordonnier.

Children and adults with disabilities who are served by UCP or Northwest Missouri have a range of abilities and diagnoses including autism, down syndrome, hearing and visual impairments, physical or communication delays and intellectual or speech delays.

The St. Joseph Police Department is reporting is has taken 3 people into custody for investigation of vehicle theft and destruction of property overnight Monday.

Captain Jeff Wilson said a 31-year-old St. Joseph man, a 26-year-old St. Joseph man, and a 22-year-old St. Joseph woman are being held in connection with the theft and destruction of two vehicles.

Wilson said police began investigating the theft of a vehicle stolen near the Speedy’s gas station off of Riverside Road Monday evening.  The vehicle was later located in a ditch on fire.

A second vehicle was stolen near the 2200 block of Riverside.  That vehicle was also found in flames in a ditch just north of the location it was stolen from.

Wilson said police were able to use video footage taken from the Speedy’s Convenience store to identify the individuals who stole the vehicles and made those arrests early Tuesday morning.

National Farm Safety & Health Week is this week, September 21-27.

At this time of year harvest is top of mind for farmers. They’re eager to get into the field and want to make sure they’re being efficient when harvesting their crops.

At the same time, safety in the field and on roadways is of the utmost importance.

680 KFEQ Farm Director Micheal Clements has more…

The bridge on Route A over the Nodaway River, just east of Maitland, is now open, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation, but with a weight restriction. Once flood waters receded, inspectors from the state bridge division were able to inspect both the bridge structures underwater and the bank at the bridge end. While the structure is safe for motorists, a 20-ton weight restriction is now in place. Travelers should also be alert as the bridge could close immediately if the river level rises. Any additional water in the river channel could affect the stability of the slope under the bridge end and compromise the bridge support.

The 51-year-old bridge carries approximately 2,300 vehicles a day. Inspectors, concerned that recent flooding may have caused excessive scouring, closed the bridge Monday, Sept. 15, 2014, until a complete inspection could be conducted. The bridge inspection team, a MoDOT geologist and local personnel determined the bridge could reopen this afternoon with a 20-ton weight restriction.

 “We realize this is a vital route for the surrounding communities. By placing a weight restriction on the bridge, we are able to reopen it to most traffic,” said MoDOT District Engineer Don Wichern. “Our number one priority is safety. We ask all motorists in the area to follow the weight restriction, for their own protection and well being.”

The Route A Nodaway River Bridge was built in 1963. All bridges throughout the United States are federally required to be inspected at least every two years. MoDOT’s Northwest District has more than 1,300 bridges among its 20 counties.

The Hardy family, whose members have attended Northwest Missouri State University through four generations dating back to World War II, are the University’s 2014 Family of the Year.

Sponsored by Campus Dining, the Family of the Year award is bestowed each fall during the University’s Family Weekend festivities. The recognition comes with a $750 scholarship and other prizes.

Cousins Jaque Runyon and Rebecca Moore nominated their family for the recognition. Jaque, a sophomore interactive digital media major from Maryville, is the daughter of Darla Hardy Runyon and Steve Runyon. Rebecca, a sophomore public and private accounting and financial services major from Grant City, Mo., is the daughter of Julia Hardy Wideman.

The family’s connection to Northwest began when Jacque’s grandfather and Rebecca’s great-grandfather, Earl Hardy, attended Northwest in 1944 before becoming a sergeant in the U.S. Army during World War II. According to Hardy family history, President Uel Lamkin called Earl, who raised turkeys with his brother, to his office and requested two of his best turkeys for the president’s Thanksgiving meal.

Later, while Earl was off to war, his soon-to-be wife, Madge, took classes at Northwest to help her with her teaching career at the Pleasant Valley one-room schoolhouse in Worth County.

After the war ended, Earl and Madge married and had nine children. Eight of them attended Northwest and earned degrees in the field of education. The ninth Hardy child took over management of the family farm to help the others complete their college degrees.

Together, the eight siblings have amassed 145 years of teaching. The siblings and their graduation years are: David Hardy (1968), Barbara Hardy Matteson (1970), Karen Hardy Ross (1972), Nancy Hardy Penserum (1973), Mike Hardy (1976), Janice Hardy Borey (1980), Darla Hardy Runyon (1983) and James Hardy (1986).

Darla Runyon is director of Northwest’s Center for Information Technology in Education, and Carolyn Hardy, wife of Mike Hardy and a 1983 graduate of Northwest, is an assistant professor in Northwest’s Department of  Math, Computer Science and Information Systems.

Earl and Madge also have 24 grandchildren, seven of whom are Northwest graduates. As Northwest students, members of the family have had involvement with the Bearcat Marching Band, Phi Beta Lambda, the Bearcat football team and The Northwest Missourian student newspaper, among other organizations.

Jaque Runyon, the eighth grandchild to attend Northwest, is involved with Gamma Alpha Lambda, Phi Eta Sigma and Mortar Board. She is a student employee in the Department of English and Modern Languages.

A great-grandchild, Rebecca Moore is a member of the Accounting Society, Honors Program and Gamma Alpha Lambda, and she is a student employee in the Office of Financial Assistance.

The family also funds the Hardy Academic Scholarship, which is awarded annually to a graduate of the Worth County R-III School District who attends Northwest.

“Grandfather Hardy always said that his graffiti on the world were his children,” Jaque and Rebecca wrote in their nomination. “Some marks have definitely been made at Northwest by the Hardy family. We feel like we could start our own Northwest Hardys Alumni Chapter.”

Families are nominated by members of the Bearcat community or self-nominated. Applicants are judged on the family’s commitment to Northwest, academic success, service and the family’s consistent and sustained involvement over several generations.

Repair work to a bridge on the southern edge of Holt County has prompted a lane closure on Interstate 29, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation. The southbound driving lane of I-29 is now closed and will remain closed overnight. The lane should reopen in the afternoon on Tuesday, September 23, 2014, weather permitting. Motorists may experience delays.

During the lane closure and repair work, a 12-foot width restriction will be in place for all southbound traffic.

The cost to reprint ballots for the November election may not have to come out of Buchanan County’s budget.

According to Buchanan County Presiding Commissioner R.T. Turner, the State will be reimbursing the county around $5,000 to cover the cost of reprinting ballots after an appeals court panel ruled last week that ballot wording previously approved by lawmakers for the proposed constitutional amendment was misleading.

Missouri election officials all over the state are scrambling to reprint ballots and reprogram computers after an appeals court ordered a change to an early-voting proposal that will appear on the November ballot.

County clerks said Wednesday that the change could cost about $5,000 for local election jurisdictions and could delay the availability of absentee ballots.

Buchanan County Clerk Mary Baack-Garvey told us Friday that she was one of the first inline to get ballots reprinted and expects to have them by Monday in time for absentee voting Tuesday.