The Clinton County Sheriff’s Office has a suspect in custody after human remains were found over the weekend.

According to a news release, Tuesday around 2:30 p.m. the office was notified by the forensic investigators who confirmed the identity of skeletal remains found on SE Cannonball Road and Missouri 33 Highway in Holt.

As we previously reported, Sheriff Larry Fish said a resident found the body Sunday afternoon in a wooded area off of southeast Cannon Ball Rd.

Currently, one suspect is in custody in connection with the case.  Investigators are still following leads.  Capt. A.J. Carrel with the Sheriff’s Office said pending proper notification of family they are not releasing any further information at this time.

A press conference is slated for Wednesday afternoon with the victim’s family, investigators and Sheriff Fish.

The St. Joseph Police Department is searching for a man and two women are in custody after a road rage incident allegedly lead to shots fire Tuesday morning on the southeast part of town.

Authorities initially responded to what was reported as an accident on Easton Road near 29th St.  shortly after 7:30 a.m.  Sgt. Kevin Cummings said when officers arrived they began investigating it as a road rage incident involved shots fired.

Sgt. Wayne Byrom said someone in the black Dodge Avenger fired at a Chevrolet S-10 pick up truck.  The vehicles then collided resulting in a crash. No one was hit by bullets in the incident.

A man and two women in the Dodge allegedly ran from the scene.  After a brief search of the area police took the two women into custody for investigation of unlawful use of a weapon.  Byrom said the handgun was found laying in the middle of the street.  Police are still searching for the man who had allegedly been driving the Dodge.  The only description provided was that of a white man wearing a blue or gray hoodie.

The St. Joseph resident who had been driving the S-10 pick up was transported to Mosaic Life Care with minor injuries.  One of the women, after allegedly running from police and then taken into custody was also taken to Mosaic Life Care for evaluation of an injury.

Around 8:28 a.m. police issued an alert asking people to avoid the area of Easton Rd. and S. 29th St. for a police incident. Police blocked off 29 from Pear St. to Easton Road. The road reopened around 9:49 a.m.  Authorities are still investigating the case.

Anyone with information is asked to call the TIPS Hotline (816) 238-TIPS.

The St. Joseph School District is refuting allegations that the district failed to comply with new regulations on bullying policies.

As we previously reported, St. Joseph resident and parent Brian Cronk sent the Board of Education a letter Thursday night stating the district was not in compliance with a new law regarding a bullying policy and a violation of the Missouri Sunshine Law. Cronk said he started looking into the issue after several kids close to him experienced bullying at an elementary school in the district.

“I don’t want a suicide to occur because the district couldn’t follow the laws designed to protect kids,” Cronk said. “I filed some sunshine law requests at the end of January to determine the extent of bullying at Bode. The responses from their attorneys are what led me to discover that they are not complying with the law.”

Superintendent Dr. Robert Newhart said the district is aware of the new regulations and has been working since last year on following the new requirements. Newhart said even though a written policy has not been updated they have been following the new law.

“In October we received the policy updates from MSBA and sent them to legal review. We received those legal reviews back both from our internal Spencer Fane attorneys as well as MSBA in January and are working through these. All in the meanwhile, implemented many of the law requirements, rightfully so since August of 2016,” Newhart said. “There’s no way you’re going to get that into a handbook for a 16-17 school year for a statute change.”

The St. Joseph Post plans to contact the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and MSBA to try to find out what the requirements are but at the time of this post business was closed for the weekend.

In information provided to the St. Joseph Post Thursday, Cronk said he contacted Missouri’s Attorney General and the Buchanan County Prosecutor’s Office in reference to the new bullying legislation and the district’s failure to comply with his sunshine request for documents. When we emailed Buchanan County Prosecutor Dwight Scroggins to find out if the office is looking into the matter. Scroggins said the office will look at any investigation that gets presented to the office from a Law Enforcement Agency on the matter.

Dr. Newhart said the district took some time in compiling the sunshine requests due to the amount of work involved in compiling the information.

“When you get as much information as they’re wanting it takes a little bit of time to compile them,” Newhart said.

Cronk said the district’s attorneys’ sent him a response to his sunshine request Friday.  We are continuing to look into the story and will follow up on Monday when businesses reopen for the work week.

 

 

(Update 4:30 p.m.) -(News Release from SJSD) The safety of students in the St. Joseph School District (SJSD) is a top priority and our administrators, faculty and staff work throughout the year to ensure policies are followed to protect kids from bullying and to educate and train our employees on how to handle and report bullying complaints.

We think it is important provide a response to recent questions about the revised Missouri statute (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 160.775) that requires school districts to update existing antibullying policies.

A false allegation suggested that the St. Joseph School District is in violation of that statute by virtue of the fact that the District has not yet updated its policy (JFCF) to account for the recent revisions.

Subsection 6 of the statue provides that “Each district shall review its antibullying policy and revise it as needed. The district’s school board shall receive input from school personnel, students, and administrators when reviewing and revising the policy.”

The District had no legal obligation to begin undertaking the review and revision required under the amendment (including the receipt of necessary input) until the amendment took effect. The District has a recognized process in place, namely the Board’s Policy Committee, to account for the law’s new requirement that it receive input on the policy revision. The District is committed to that process, including the following steps:

• The District received the policy updates from the Missouri School Boards’ Association (MSBA) in    October 2016
• The District sent questions and concerns on the policy to our attorney, Spencer Fane, in November 2016
• Spencer Fane’s team responded in November 2016, then that information was sent to MSBA
• The District received a legal response from MSBA in January 2017

The statute now also requires the District’s anti-bullying policy to be included in the student handbook. Student handbooks are published and distributed at the start of the school year, so those had already been distributed for 2016-17. The statute therefore recognizes that there will be some lag between the effective date of the amendment and the adoption (and distribution of) implementing policy regulations.

Since Missouri adopted its first anti-bullying law in 2006, the District has been making good faith efforts to address bullying in the school environment. Moreover, the measures the District has taken since the start of the 2016-17 school year to structure its bullying investigations in accord with the amendments to Section 160.775 should be commended as a proactive measure to address bullying in ways envisioned by the amendment even before the District was required to do so (please see the attached form).

The District anticipates finalizing its revisions to Policy JFCF at its regular February Board meeting, and those revisions will be reflected in next year’s student handbooks.

All sunshine requests, including those made in conjunction with questions regarding this policy, and the responses to those requests will be posted on the District’s website at this link.

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(10 a.m.) – The St. Joseph School District plans to issue a news release later today addressing an issue brought forward in a recent letter to the Board of Education.

Last night, Brian Cronk a St. Joseph resident and parent sent a letter to the Board of Education which he said is in reference to the district not being in compliance with a new state bullying law.

In his letter, Cronk said the required changes in RSMO 160.775 are substantial and intended to protect children.

“They were required to be in place and fully implemented by January 1, 2017 and the District had six months to prepare. Additional changes that take effect over the next 18 months are designed to reduce suicides (RSMO 170.048 by July 1, 2018) and mandate additional staff training (RSMO 170.047 beginning in the 2017-18 school year),” he said. “The SJSD is knowingly in violation of state law. You have each willfully neglected or refused to perform duties imposed on you by Chapter 160.”

CLICK HERE to read his letter in its entirety.

Cronk also provided us with a letter he sent to the Buchanan County Prosecutor’s Office stating he believes the district is in violation of the Sunshine Law as well as the new RSMO. CLICK HERE to read his letter.  We have left a message with the prosecutor’s office to try to find out if they are looking into the matter or can comment on the issue.  We are currently waiting to hear back.

Bridget Blevins, St. Joseph School District Dir. of Communications said she plans to issue a news release later in the day addressing the information provided to us which she said should make things more clear.

The St. Joseph Police Department is searching for two suspects after a Thursday morning burglary.

Capt. Jeff Wilson said police responded around 8:45 a.m. to the 1200 block of N. 2nd St.

“Victim’s sister was present prior to the victim returning to the house,” Wilson said. “She noticed front door of residence open and went inside. Once inside she encountered two intruders. The sister reported that one of the intruders pointed a handgun at her and then they both fled the house and drove away in a white passenger vehicle.”

Several items of value were reported taken from the home. No injuries were reported.

Wilson said the case is being investigated by detectives. No arrests have been made at this time.