A small plane that went missing after taking off from a northwest Missouri airport Sunday afternoon has been found nearly two days later.

Several news outlets are reporting that Kenny Stoner, identified as the Rideway pilot and sole occupant of the plane has been confirmed deceased.

“The wreckage is located. It is north of Pattonsburg Mo. in Daviess County. It is west I believe of Interstate 35 in a very rural wooded area there,” said James Boothe, Gentry County Emergency Management Dir. “We have crews currently on the way into the wreckage.”

The plane was found around 9:15 a.m. Tuesday.

As we previously reported, Nodaway County Sheriff Darren White said the pilot of the Cessna 180 attempted to re-fuel Sunday afternoon at the Northwest Missouri Regional Airport in Maryville but was unable to do so. The plane was low on fuel when it left for Bethany, Missouri, and never arrived.

More than 100 people have assisted with the search operation.

Three people are facing drug charges after deputies stopped two vehicles in Andrew County Sunday and found what they believe to be marijuana in a diaper bag.

24-year-old Shyan Nicole McPike of Fillmore is charged with felonies for possession of marijuana, endangering the welfare of a child involving drugs, and driving while revoked/suspended.  She is also charged with misdemeanors for resisting/interfering with arrest, possession of marijuana and an infraction for failing to secure a child under the age of 8 in a child restraint.  28-year-old Garrett Miles Rutherford of Fillmore and  60-year-old Herbert Davis of Fillmore are both charged with a felony for possession.

According to court documents the charges stem from an incident that took place just before 2 a.m. Sunday when Deputy Daniel Glidden was on patrol on County Road 7 and the intersection of County Road 13. He said he saw a black dodge drive by followed by a white ford flatbed truck driven by McPike who he said he had a revoked license and an active warrant out of Andrew County.

“Deputy Glidden then advised that the vehicle was failing to yield and a black dodge truck was in front of her and they were approaching State Route H,” Investigator Grant Gillett with the Andrew County Sheriff’s Department said in a probable cause statement. “Deputy Glidden advised that the black truck was pulling over however the white truck Shyan was driving went around the black truck now.  Deputy Glidden advised that the driver of the black truck was Shyan’s boyfriend Garrett Rutherford and he believed he was attempting to block Deputy Glidden from chasing Shyan or getting her to stop.”

After passing the black dodge Deputy Glidden said he was able to stop the truck driven by McPike about a half mile east of H Highway.  He said there was an 8-month-old girl in the passenger seat in a car seat but that the car seat was not restrained by the seat belt of the truck.

“I later deployed my police K-9 ‘Jak’ to do an open air sniff of the truck he indicated to the presence of the odor of narcotics in the truck,” Deputy Glidden said. “A search of the truck revealed a clear bag with a white in color crystal substance on the inside of the truck on the seat between McPike and the toddler, that later tested positive for meth.  Also in a diaper bag for the toddler there was a bag with a green in color substance on the inside that appeared to be marijuana.”

Investigator Gillett said he pulled over the other truck.

“I made contact with the driver of the truck who was identified as Herbert F. Davis and the front passenger Garrett Rutherford,” Gillett said. “Deputy Glidden advised that Garrett was driving the truck when he went by them because he shined his spot light in the vehicle.  Garrett refused to say he was driving.”

After a K-9 sniff of the vehicle Gillett said he opened the passenger door and found a clear plastics bag fall from the truck ad land on the ground.

“I picked up the bag and noticed it had a crystal rock substance inside the bag that appeared to be methamphetamine,”Gillett said.

“Under Miranda Rights Garrett did admit to have been driving at first but thought he was suspended so he switched drivers.  Garrett stated that the drugs are not his and does not know how it got into his truck,” Gillett said. “Herbert advised that the drugs were not his and that it had to be Garrett’s he was on that side of the truck.”

All three are scheduled for an arraignment Tuesday in Andrew County.

More than 30 handmade pieces by the St. Joseph Woodworkers’ Guild are up for auction Saturday to benefit the AFL-CIO Adopt-A-Family program.

The 2nd Annual St. Joseph Woodworkers’ Guild Holiday Auction will take place Saturday, Dec. 5th at East Hills Shopping Center at 1 p.m.

CLICK HERE to see photos of the items up for bids.

AFL-CIO Community Services Dir. Penny Adams said all of the items are handmade.  Proceeds raised will go to help provide a Christmas for area families who may not be able to have one otherwise.

“Most of them try their best to manage their finances to make it day-to-day but to find extra dollars to purchase Christmas gifts is near impossible for them,” Adams said.

Applications for the Adopt-A-Family program began Nov. 2nd and closed Friday.  Adams said there are many stories and reasons why people aren’t able to make ends meet to provide a Christmas for their own families.  She said they range from individuals who are working multiple jobs and still unable to pay the bills and have the extra funds to buy Christmas presents to those families dealing with a health crisis who are unable to work.

Adams said the numbers are still being tallied but she anticipates around 700 families are in need of adoption this year, which is down from 2014.  Last year there were 866 families and 2784 individuals in the program, all of which were adopted by Dec. 23.

For information on how to adopt call (816) 364-1131.

A family of six including two children with disabilities is calling St. Joseph’s Salvation Army shelter home as they work to get back up on their feet.

“We’re from New Hampshire and we lost the battle with our home,” Norma Seefeldt said. “We had a week to move. We moved and got as much as we could and the things we couldn’t we had to leave.”

Seefeldt and Craig Orzechowska said they’ve been together for eight years, but because they aren’t married they said the church shelters in New Hampshire wouldn’t help them and the other ones were full. So at the beginning of October they said they headed out.

“Craig’s mom lives in Missouri and she said you know there’s more opportunity you could benefit to move to Missouri.  So here we are, in Missouri,” Seefeldt said. “Our family I think was a little too much for her and so I ended up leaving with my children.”

Seefeldt said she went to the YWCA first but because the YW is only for women and children she ran into an issue because her oldest son is 21.

Seefeldt has four children, ages 21, 11, and twins who are 7. She said two of her children have Asperger’s Syndrome.

“They’re all about structure, and routine and our life right now is out of structure and out of routine,” she said. “I was worried, I’ve never been homeless like this.”

Salvation Army Major, Abe Tamayo said the Salvation Army is the only full-time shelter in St. Joseph that takes in families.

“She was stranded with no place to stay and no resources,” Tamayo said. “She came to us. We were able to house them as a family, feed them and allow them appliance usage such as washing machines and dryers and those types of things and immediately started plugging them into resources in the community and they’re progressing quite nicely.”

Seefeldt said Orzechowska joined her and the kids in the shelter and they are now looking for ways to rebuild their lives.

“We’re in this situation trying to get jobs, Craig wants to go back to school and we’re looking for a house and not knowing the areas and we’re just searching,” Seefeldt said.

Before losing their home Orzechowska said he worked at his town’s highway department operating heavy equipment and Seefeldt said she worked at a grocery store.

“One day at a time trying to build ourselves back up there,” Seefeldt said. “Being responsible citizens.”

The couple said they hope to find a home for their family in time for Christmas.

“We’re working towards it,” Orsechowska said. “It’s a lot easier because everybody at the Salvation Army is so very nice and they know a lot of things around here that we need to reach and achieve those goals. They make it a lot easier to achieve those goals being our friend and not just a superior. Not making us feel like we’re less than and not equal to.”

“We cannot do what we do without the financial assistance in the St. Joseph community,” Tamayo said. “The Army is always proactive and reactive but never inactive.”

The Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign to raise $375,000 for the agency is currently underway.  However, the agency is currently $6,000 behind in fundraising efforts from this point in the campaign last year.

“We’re still lagging behind and we need that extra support to meet our goal by Christmas,” Tamayo said. “We’re looking for volunteer bell ringers.”

To volunteer call The Salvation Army 816.233.5824 and ask for LeeAnn.

 

 

The St. Joseph School District is urging students and families to take precautions after the district said a driver continuously offered an unwanted ride to a Central High School student.

Joey Austin, Dir. of Communications with the district said in an email that Tuesday morning a high school student was on her way to Central High School when an unidentified man offered numerous times to give her a ride as she walked to school, which made her uncomfortable.

“The student made it to school safely and promptly informed her counselor and the police were notified,” Austin said.

The individual is described as a white male with dirty blond hair, a scruffy beard, with a large build and of average height. He was driving a gray car (unknown model) with a great dane sticker on the back window.

“We join the police in urging all students and their families to take precautions while away from home and particularly while traveling to and from school. All students are encouraged to not walk or wait alone while enroute to school or at the bus stop,” Austin said.

The police are asking residents to report any suspicious activities to their attention by calling (816) 271-4777. Students at school with information to report or with concerns regarding this incident should contact any school administrator or counselor.

“Our school district will be working closely with the police to assure the safety of our students,” Austin said.

Update – Missouri Western State University has canceled both its afternoon and evening classes after a campus-wide power outage Tuesday.

Power was lost all across campus around noon According to Kent Heier, Assistant Dir. of PR and Marking at Western. By 5:09 p.m. Tuesday power was restored to most of the campus.

In the latest update, Heier said the outage appears to have been caused by a faulty high voltage switch.

The power outage was just contained to the university campus.

Missouri Western State University’s president will make an audio appearance tonight on the Jim Bohannon Radio show to talk about the Walter Cronkite Memorial.

Jim Bohannon is one of America’s top radio personalities. He was nominated for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Marconi Radio Award for the Network Syndicated Personality of the Year. He is a recipient of a Special Recognition First Amendment Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association and was named by the TALKERS magazine editorial board as the 2013 recipient of the publication’s prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. He is also an inductee into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

Dr. Robert Vatrabedian said he did about a 16-minute taped interview Monday about the memorial on the nationally syndicated radio show. It’s scheduled to air tonight, Tues. Dec. 1 at 11:35 p.m. on 680AM KFEQ.

“He asked some excellent questions about the Cronkite memorial and the two live shows associated with it,” Vartabedian said. “He was very good about repeatedly mentioning St. Joe and Missouri Western State University. Also, he even talked about where donations could be sent to keep the memorial running.”

Walter Cronkite was born in St. Joseph on Nov. 4, 1916. The Walter Cronkite Memorial, in the atrium of Spratt Hall on the Missouri Western campus, was dedicated in 2013 on what would have been his 97th birthday. It has since been expanded to include more display cases, a bronze bust of Cronkite created by Missouri Western artist-in-residence Eric Fuson, and a replica of the CBS newsroom from which Cronkite broadcast the news. Also added to the memorial have been two live multimedia shows – “Cronkite” and “Harry and Walter: Missouri’s Native Sons.”  The Walter Cronkite Memorial is open to the public daily except for Christmas, New Year’s Day and Easter, and admission is always free.