By Sarah Thomack
St. Joseph Post

(This event was rescheduled due to weather. It will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28th at the Nodaway County Administration Building.)

An opportunity for makers and entrepreneurs to learn how to take their hobby to the next level is coming up in Maryville.

Maryville Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Lily White said they are putting together a seminar called, “From Maker to Made.”

White said the event came about because the Chamber noticed at area craft shows and through other events how many local people are makers.

“They’re making incredible things… selling earrings, makeup bags and homemade woodcraft projects, as far as whole furniture sets and they are incredibly talented, but they’re all doing it in their spare time and it’s a passion that they have,” White said. “So we are going to try to find a way to not only help teach them, but learn from them what they need from our community to better assist them, so some of them might actually be able to make this into their career.”

White said they are working with Nodaway County Economic Development, Northwest Missouri Enterprise Facilitation, the Regional Council of Governments and more to present the inaugural seminar next week.

“What we’re going to do at that one is going to be a little bit broad, but we’re going to start talking about wholesaling to different boutiques and different small businesses and then also scaling to sell online, so we can really teach these individuals that already have this awesome skill set, to get their product out further and market themselves,” White said. “We’re hoping that it spins off into larger seminars and more ways for us to help them.”

The “From Maker to Made” event takes place at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 19th at the Nodaway County Administration Building. For more information, go to maryvillechamber.com.

(UPDATE Thursday 9:35 a.m.) – St. Joseph Police have identified the pedestrian who died after being hit by a vehicle on Highway 36 Wednesday afternoon.

According to Capt. Jeff Wilson with the department, 29-year-old Kyle Juhl of Wathena got out of his vehicle on the highway to help another driver experiencing a medical issue. Juhl was hit by another vehicle and died a short time later.

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(UPDATE Wednesday 10 p.m.) Police confirm the pedestrian hit by a vehicle on Highway 36 Wednesday afternoon has died.

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A pedestrian was hit Wednesday afternoon on Highway 36.

According to Capt. Jeff Wilson with the St. Joseph Police Department, around 2:20 p.m. the driver of a vehicle on 36 Highway just west of the Belt Highway was experiencing a medical issue. A person in another vehicle stopped to help and was hit by a third vehicle on Highway 36.

The pedestrian and the person with the medical issue were both taken to the hospital.

Updates will be posted when more information is released.

By Sarah Thomack
St. Joseph Post

This winter, area residents have had to be prepared for everything from bitter cold and wind, to snow, sleet, ice and more.

St. Joseph Emergency Management Manager Jada McClintick said patience and planning are keys to winter safety no matter what the weather is doing.

“Of course, on the roadways is snow, or on a day when it’s really cold and wet out, it’s slicker than it looks on the pavement, so people just need to be patient with themselves, with other drivers, give themselves extra time to get where they’re needing to go,” McClintick said. “That’s probably the number one thing you can do is just give yourself that extra time so you’re not frustrated with those other drivers, you’re acutely aware of everyone else around you driving and giving yourself extra time to get yourself to where you’re going and stop, when appropriate.”

The forecast is calling for temperatures in the 40s on Wednesday and Thursday this week and McClintick said, during the nicer weather, it’s a good time to make or update your emergency car kit. Some items McClintick suggests having in your kit, which could be in a box, bag or tote in your trunk include:

• Water
• Granola bars
• Extra chargers
• Blankets

McClintick adds that in past years, people have mentioned they wished they would have included things for their kids traveling with them when they got stuck on the road because of bad weather.

“Things to keep them entertained, whether it be an iPad or books or crossword puzzles, something, because the kids got really restless and aggravated having to sit in the car that long,” McClintick said. “So it’s something you don’t always think about in an emergency kit, but if you travel with your kids in the car a lot, you do have to keep them, not only fed, but entertained as well so that an interesting thing I thought people brought up that they didn’t have in their kits.”

For more information about weather preparedness, visit the city of St. Joseph Emergency Management Facebook page.

By Sarah Thomack
St. Joseph Post

This weekend, in Atchison, Kansas, there’s an opportunity to satisfy your sweet tooth and help a local theater restoration.

Atchison Chamber of Commerce President Jacque Pregont said there are over 13 different businesses participating in the Annual Chocolate Tasting this year.

“Chocolate cupcakes, chocolate covered espresso beans, I believe somebody is doing chocolate covered bacon, so you’ve got about 13 places to go and pick up your chocolate,” Pregont said. “You can either eat it as you go, or you can bring a little container. Lots of people have started bringing little containers to put the chocolates in so they can take them home and enjoy them one at a time and savor each and every one.”

This year, the funds from tickets for the Chocolate Tasting will be donated to the Fox Theatre project.

“We’re doing major renovations and reopening our movie theater, so we’re trying to give them a little bump to help pay for that project,” Pregont said. “We’re also excited to see that opening, they say the end of March, 1st of April, so we thought why not help them out with the ticket sales from our Chocolate Tasting.”  

The Chocolate Tasting is Friday and Saturday during normal business hours. You can find a list of participating businesses and more information at visitatchison.com.

By Sarah Thomack
St. Joseph Post

The St. Joseph School District Early Childhood Department will begin developmental screenings at the end of the month.

District preschool programs serve 4-year-old children who turn 4 by August 1, 2019.

The required screening is the first step for those interested in SJSD preschool programs.

SJSD Coordinator of Early Childhood Services Mary Fleming said there are several dates available in the spring to set up an appointment for the screenings for 3 and 4-year-old children in St. Joseph.

“First they work with a nurse to do a health, vision and hearing screening, then they move over and work with a parent educator who does some tasks with them from the DIAL Assessment – motor tasks, some questions that are kind of cognitive tasks and some language tasks and then the kids get to go play for a little while,” Fleming said. “We score those screenings and sit down and chat with the parents about what we found. It’s just good to know where your kids are at because we’ll have some information there about whatever level you find that your child is performing at, some things you can do at home with them.”

Fleming said there are some things parents or guardians can do to prepare their future preschooler for the screening.

“I would tell them to chat with their little person about just trying to be comfortable, they’re basically just going to interact with some grownups that they don’t know yet, but we’re used to dealing with little children,” Fleming said. “They might have a chat with the nurse, it will be kind of like going to a doctors appointment… and they’re basically going to play some little games with somebody and when it’s all over they get to go play.”

Fleming said the screenings should take about an hour and a half and parents or guardians should bring shot records, a birth certificate and proof of residency.

Dates and times for screenings are:

Feb. 28 – 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

March 1 – 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

March 2 – 8 a.m. to noon

March 4 – 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

March 5 – 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

March 6 – 8 a.m. to noon

Screenings take place at the Keatley Center, 1202 South 28th Street in St. Joseph.

For more information or to make an appointment, click here or call (816) 671-4000.

By Sarah Thomack
St. Joseph Post

There were some new faces around the tables for breakfast at Edison Elementary School in St. Joseph Tuesday morning.

Several Missouri Western State University football players and officers from the St. Joseph Police Department joined 6th grade boys from Edison to kick off a mentoring program.

“In education, a lot of times, mainly what you see is female teachers and so our boys don’t really get that opportunity to connect with a lot of male teachers or male role models through the day,” said Angie Hernandez, the Family Involvement Coordinator at Edison. “So we wanted to make sure to pair our boys with that because it also opens their eyes to different positive male role models that are out in our community. When this is over with, our hope is they will see their mentor out and about and this is a connection and a relationship that will start today and will grow from now on that these boys will take with them for the rest of their life.”

Edison partnered with the United Way of Greater St. Joseph which helped organize and connect the people needed to get the program started this year.

“Coach Steve asked the whole football team if anyone was free Tuesday mornings.. I was one of the guys that raised my hand,” said Evan Clark, a freshman on the Missouri Western football team. “Growing up, some kids have it tough and you don’t know what a small thing like having breakfast with someone who could be a potential role model can do for you, so I’m here to help out, especially if I can actually fulfill that for some kids.”

Officer Jason Hill with the SJPD said the weekly breakfast gives the officers the opportunity to make connections with students.

“They’re able to see police in a more positive role when we come here and get to talk to them, as opposed to showing up when their house gets broken into or the domestic violence situations where the kids have to be witness to that, they get to see us here hopefully as friends,” Hill said.

The players and officers will each have breakfast with their group of students once a week for the rest of the school year. The first Tuesday breakfast was spent playing “get-to-know-you” games incorporating Jenga, Yahtzee and more. 

The Missouri Department of Transportation is launching its pothole patching efforts early this year due to the recent extreme weather.

Assistant District Maintenance and Traffic Engineer with MoDOT Jennifer Sardigal said potholes are caused by water, snow or ice that gets into the pavement.

“The asphalt is porous, so the asphalt becomes soft with the increased amount of ice and snow and water. So when the colder temperatures arrive, then the water freezes… and when water freezes it expands, which breaks the pavement,” Sardigal said. “Once the pavement is broken, all the traffic hitting the pothole area will cause it to break up even more so that leaves gaps in the pavement.”

Crews use a temporary cold asphalt mix to cover the potholes until warmer temperatures will allow them to use hot asphalt mix for a permanent fix.

“The cold mix is not going to adhere to the existing pavement like the hot mix will and hot mix is generally put down with oil, which causes a bond between the previous pavement and the new asphalt that is put in place.”

Sardigal said motorists are encouraged to report to MoDOT the location of a pothole on state-maintained routes. Anything that is an Interstate, U.S. Route or Missouri Route, including U.S. 169 or MO 6 in the St. Joseph area, is a state-maintained route.

To report a pothole, click here, call 1-888-ASK MODOT or go to the MoDOT Northwest District’s Facebook or Twitter page.

By Sarah Thomack
St. Joseph Post

There is now a way to report tips to Crime Stoppers in St. Joseph online or through an app on your phone.

Dave Hart with the St. Joseph Police Department said the website p3tips.com and P3 Tips app officially launched Friday.

“We tried to set it up so that it’s very intuitive, very easy to use… so you just fill out all of the information that you know, all the information you’re willing to provide us,” Hart said. “Once you’ve completed all the information that you have, you just submit it. It does allow you to give us some pictures, video, audio files, they can all be submitted to Crime Stoppers.”

Hart said if anyone is interested in receiving an award for their tip, there is an option for that.

“One thing we really want to point out is, this is Crime Stoppers, it’s separate from the police department,” Hart said. “So if you do want a reward for providing information, you’ll want to use this to send in your tip, and then after you click submit you’re going to get a username and password. Save that username and password because that’s the only way you’ll be able to register for a reward.”

Hart said the username and password also gives the tipster and the police department a way to communicate anonymously.

“Before we never could do that, the tip would come in and we would just have that one (piece of) information,” Hart said. “Now, if you’re willing, we can chat back and forth, we have no idea who you are or any way to find out, but we can still share information back and forth, which is a huge benefit we’re really excited about.”

Hart said the (816) 238-TIPS number is still available to call, but the app and online platforms will hopefully make it easier for people to report tips.

“The more information we get put in here, the more value the tip has, the more likely we can do something with it,” Hart said. “So we encourage people, be as detailed and descriptive as you can be.”

Hart said the app does not replace 9-1-1. It is to only be used for information to help with an investigation.

Hart adds there are several agencies across the country that use the software and different locations can be selected within the app to report a tip in that area.

An opportunity for northwest Missouri residents to travel to the capitol and meet legislators is coming up next month.

Lily White is the Maryville Chamber of Commerce Director and the Nodaway County Coordinator with Great Northwest Day at the Capitol.

White said this is the 16th year of Great Northwest Day, which is a 19-county cooperative and grassroots effort.

“We get together, every single February, and go down to Jeff City,” White said. “It’s a way for us to communicate, both with our legislators, but also with legislators from other, more urbanized areas, to tell them what’s really going on in rural Missouri and give them a person to think about when they’re voting.”

White said several hundred people typically go on the trip each year to visit with legislators and highlight priorities and what is going on in their communities.

White said, for those who have never gone to the capitol or haven’t been back since high school, she encourages them to consider attending Great Northwest Day.

“On those trips, you’re not yet realizing how much the government affects your everyday life and you’re also not realizing that these elected officials… they’re also just people,” White said. “People going (to Jefferson City) sometimes have this exaggerated picture of them in their minds but they’re really easygoing and it’s very easy to sit down and have a coffee with them and talk. For me, going down and seeing Jeff City is a reminder that every single person in our state can affect the government and can affect what’s happening there on a daily basis.”

Wednesday, Jan. 23, is the last day for early registration for Great Northwest Day. The trip takes place February 5 – 6.

You can find more information and your county coordinator at greatnorthwestday.com.