by SARAH THOMACK

St. Joseph Post

A tree lighting will take place Tuesday evening as a way for the community to remember victims of crime and pay tribute to those family members and friends. 

Paralegal with the Buchanan County Prosecutor’s Office Jenn Moden said the Victim Memorial Tree Lighting is an annual event the Prosecutor’s Office has held for many years. 

“It’s just really important to bring the community together and honor the victims that we have lost, just an excellent opportunity to pay tribute to those family members or even friends that were taken too soon,” Moden said. “It has a huge impact on our community members…It’s just really a great time, during the holidays, to come together… just be supportive of each other, make a new friend. Our community is going through so much right now.… it’s just an excellent opportunity to come and get into the holiday spirit.” 

Anyone attending is invited to bring an ornament to place on the tree in memory of a loved one. Moden said the event will also include speakers and music.

The Victim Memorial Tree Lighting takes place at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 21, outside on the north side of the courthouse at 411 Jules Street in St. Joseph.

The Pony Express Bike Share program has experienced both good times and flat tires in its first few months.

The program launched in August as a free program allowing people to borrow bikes from a rack and take short trips within St. Joseph.

Health Educator with the City of St. Joseph Health Department Nancy Taylor said they’ve heard positive feedback from people enjoying the bikes, but the biggest issues so far with the program have been maintenance related.

“We’re running across some issues with flat tires and some other maintenance problems, loose handlebars and pedals, things of that nature,” Taylor said. “So we’ve pulled the fleet, we have over 30 bikes back in the shop and we’re doing some extended maintenance based on some suggestions from the folks with Green Apple Bikes that we are modeling our bike share program after, there in Manhattan, Kansas.”

Taylor said they plan to put out a reduced number of bikes as the “winter fleet” in the next couple of weeks. In the spring, they plan to add more bikes with better quality tires and Taylor said they’re learning as they go with the program.

Taylor said the program got started with a Healthy Eating Active Living grant through the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. From there, local businesses sponsored or adopted bike racks. Taylor said expanding the bike program to more locations in St. Joseph depends on sponsorships.

“A business or organization would adopt a bike rack and the bikes that go with it,” Taylor said. “So every year your sponsorship would pay for the repairs to replace parts or whatever for those six bikes and then it would buy six more bikes that next coming year and then to help some of the other operational costs that may be incurred with running the program.”

Taylor said, in reference to some initial reactions to the program, so far, stolen bikes do not seem to be a big issue.

“Our theft prevention is really the citizens in our community, they’ve done a great job of calling, texting the phone number, sometimes the police, when they see a bike abandoned or… needs to be repaired,” Taylor said. “We feel pretty good about the program. I’m not really concerned that just because the bike racks are empty, doesn’t mean that they’re stolen. I think it’s just they’re being used.”

Taylor said community members have also used the phone number on the bike to voice their appreciation.

“They’re just really thankful that we’re able to offer this to our community so that’s been really good to hear the feedback from that. People have posted pictures on our Facebook page (saying) they haven’t been on a bike in a long time or they just think it’s really cool, so we’ve gotten lots of good feedback,” Taylor said. “(Also) we’ve identified, through this program, that there is a large need for people that are needing bikes as a regular means of transportation to get around town.”

For more information on the bike program, click here.

Whether it’s researching family history or learning about how St. Joseph got started, the St. Joseph Public Library offers multiple research tools.

Local History Librarian Jennifer Sanders-Tutt said whether you are just starting out with your research or need some new ideas, they can help.

“We’re here all the time for people to stop in and get help with genealogy, and not just genealogy, if they have a question about local history, St. Joseph, or the area, we’re here to answer all of those questions… we love research, that’s why we’re librarians,” Sanders-Tutt said. “But I don’t know how many people know that that’s something that we’re here for all the time, so I thought maybe setting a specific time and date would maybe help get that out there.”

Sanders-Tutt said 2 to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays at the Downtown Library is set aside for a Genealogy Drop-In for anyone wanting to come in for help with their research. The library features census information, local history and record books from the 1880s and earlier.

“One of my favorite items in the collection are some of the “who’s who” in St. Joseph or Men (Who) Make St. Joseph “The City Worth While,”” Sanders-Tutt said. “Those are really interesting because they’re biographical information. They compiled books and books of biographical information on business owners and important business people in general so you can go in and you can find information about their family going way back, which is really exciting. There’s usually also some sort of image, photograph or drawing of them in there too which is really cool to find that far back.”

Sanders-Tutt said, twice a year, the library offers a genealogy workshop called “Where Do We Begin.” That will be held sometime in April and is for all levels of people into genealogy research.

For more information, contact the Downtown Library Reference Department at (816) 232-8151 or click here.

November is National Diabetes Awareness month and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the last 20 years, the number of adults diagnosed with diabetes has more than tripled.

Carolyn Gronniger is a Registered Nurse and Certified Diabetes Educator at Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph. Gronniger said one of the misconceptions about diabetes is that eating sugar causes diabetes.

“There’s a misconception… people feel that persons with diabetes are not supposed to eat any carbohydrates or are not supposed to eat sugar, when in fact, carbohydrates are a main nutrient that is important in our diet,” Gronniger said. “The thing of it is, with a person with diabetes is their body is having trouble utilizing, processing, metabolizing that sugar or glucose for energy, so therein lies the problem. Their body still needs some carbohydrates, their body still needs some sugar but it’s more in moderation and it’s not necessarily evil.”

According to Gronniger, early on, diabetes doesn’t necessarily cause noticeable symptoms.

“Everybody needs to have a primary care provider. I don’t care how old you are, how young you are, everybody needs to have a primary care provider and see them on a regular basis,” Gronniger said. “Get some of those routine maintenance checks done because that’s where it’s picked up early on, subtle increases in blood sugar levels that may not cause you any symptoms at all.”

Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator with Mosaic Susan Alderson said anyone 45 and older, especially if they have a family history of diabetes, should get tested. Alderson adds some preventative measures people can take include keeping a healthy weight and exercise.

Some services offered at Mosaic Life Care include individual and group diabetes classes and a diabetes self-management education program.

“Within the structure of the classes some of the things that we discuss and talk about are monitoring your blood sugar, what do those numbers mean, figuring out a meal plan for the patient, encouraging activity, going over medications and also getting support,” said Karen Wedlock, RN, CDE.

For more information on diabetes and classes, contact Diabetes Care at Mosaic Life Care by calling (816) 271-6700 or click here.

A program encouraging residents to shop local during the holidays kicked off Wednesday.

Shop St. Joseph runs from November 8th through December 18th.

“Shop St. Joe is a buy local holiday program on steroids,” said Natalie Redmond, St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Membership. “It’s designed to be a program that encourages people to remember to support local businesses during the holidays, which helps keep money local. When you go to Kansas City or some other locations or shop online, it doesn’t create the tax dollars to help with St. Joseph. So we really encourage people to be mindful of supporting local businesses during the holidays and we give a kickback for that.”  

Redmond said for every $10 a shopper spends at a local business participating in Shop St. Joseph, they receive a ticket. A drawing will be held December 20th and the person with the winning ticket number could win $10,000.

For more information and a list of participating businesses, click here.

St. Joseph motorists may have noticed Missouri Department of Transportation snow plows out on the roads Thursday even though there is no major snow in the forecast yet.

MoDOT Northwest Region District Maintenance and Traffic Engineer Tonya Lohman said the department has been doing winter drills for several years to help new employees learn their routes.

“Those new employees are given the opportunity to go and ride the routes that they’re going to be on for doing snow removal,” Lohman said. “That way they can kind of see where the turnaround spots are, they can see narrow bridges, they can see where we have guardrail, they can see if someone has built one of those big monument mailboxes that they need to watch out for and just all those kind of things so they can kind of be prepared when they’re out there.”

Lohman said each snow event is different and therefore treated differently.

“I like to kind of compare it to a classroom of kids. The teacher shows up and all the kids don’t learn the same. You’ve got the kids that learn by listening, you’ve got the kids that learn by viewing… so just like that classroom of students, every storm comes in and it’s different,” Lohman said. “We have to base our strategy off of what a meteorologist is doing, looking at weather maps and making their predictions… what time, what wind speed, what ground temperature. We use that information to say, ‘Are we going to pretreat? Are we going to start at 7 a.m.? Are we go ahead call people in early at 2 a.m. because we think it’s going to hit before rush hour.’”

Earl Puett is a Maintenance Crew Leader at the St. Joseph metro building. Puett said one of the worst winter events he’s experienced in his 19 years on the job was in 2007.

“It seemed like we worked 12 or 14 hours a day, every day and we had a lot of drifting and winds wouldn’t lay down,” Puett said. “The next one I remember was two years later… we had a terrible ice storm, dropped a lot of limbs around town, power lines. That was really tough getting through.”

There may be some long hours and cold weather, but Puett said he enjoys his job.

“I like to plow snow, I’ve always enjoyed plowing snow,” Puett said. “I like knowing I’m out here trying to get the road back to a condition for everybody to drive around and get around on safely too.”

MoDOT offers multiple resources for travelers year-round including a Traveler Information Map on their website and MoDOT apps for your phone.

St. Joseph Police are investigating after a convenience store was robbed Wednesday night by someone wearing a bear mask.

According to police, a suspect entered the Speedy’s at 2728 Messanie St. shortly before midnight, displayed a gun and demanded money. The suspect was dressed in what was described as a bear mask with a white sheet draped over their body.

The suspect left with an unknown amount of cash.

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

The position of Humane Educator includes a variety of responsibilities such as answering phones, being able to give interviews to the media while holding a cat or a dog and showing up to a school with a dog to present the No More Bullying program.

Those are just a few of the things that Jenna Keyes does as part of her job as Humane Educator with the St. Joseph Animal Shelter.

This week, Keyes, along with her dog Barney, is presenting the No More Bullying Program at Pickett Elementary School to third and fifth graders.

Keyes said the No More Bullying Program was established by Wayside Waifs in Kansas City and the shelter brought it to St. Joseph last year.

“It talks about not bullying people as well as not bullying animals. It teaches the kids a little bit about animal safety along the way too and core values like responsibility, compassion, being humane, importance of self-control along with integrity, so we hit on some really big topics,” Keyes said. “It’s a great time to interact with the kids, there’s a dog in the classroom that they get to interact with and use some of these skills that they’re learning in class with the animals, as well as hopefully with their friends in class too.”

Third grade teacher Bobbie Walker said students seem to enjoy the program and are learning things along the way.

“They love it, they love Barney, he’s their favorite,” Walker said. “But even throughout the day, after the lesson’s over, when we do things, they’ll say, ‘That’s being responsible’ or ‘That’s showing compassion.’ It’s really incorporating a lot of those skills that the counselor teaches them, those character traits like responsibility, compassion.”

Third grader Adalyn’s favorite part of the program is Barney, who showed up to class on Halloween dressed as a shark.

As all the superheroes, ghosts and princesses head out for Halloween, there are some safety tips to keep in mind so everyone experiences all treats and no tricks. 

According to St. Joseph Safety and Health Council Executive Director Sheldon Lyon, safety starts with the costume.

“As parents, it’s important that we get a costume that’s appropriate for our kids, that’s comfortable. Make sure that whatever costume they have, kids can see well while they’re out, they don’t fall down or maybe they can’t see a car that’s approaching,” Lyon said. “It’s always a good idea, too, to take a flashlight or some type of reflective material so the traffic that is out is able to see you.” 

Anyone out driving during trick-or-treating hours should be extra cautious and keep an eye out for costumed pedestrians.

“Watch out for these young children that are going to be out and about,” Lyon said. “We’re probably going to see them in areas we don’t normally see them, coming out of that driveway suddenly, maybe. So just be on your guard, slow down, drive a little bit slower in those neighborhoods than you normally would.” 

Lyon said when children get home from trick-or-treating, it’s important to examine the candy. 

“We want store bought candy,” Lyon said. “I know there are people out there that like to make the homemade treats but I would stay away from those. If anything looks suspicious, the saying, ‘When in doubt, throw it out,’ is very appropriate.”   

Trick-or-treaters may also want to bundle up as the forecast is calling for temperatures in the upper 30s in the late afternoon and evening.

Some changes to the fifth annual Outlaw Film Festival in St. Joseph this year will include a change of venue.

The festival will be screening films on the Missouri Western State University campus and at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art.

Executive Director of the Outlaw Film Festival Lisa Erdman said in the past few years, Missouri Western’s 48-Hour Film Festival took place around the same time as the Outlaw Film Festival. 

“We always thought that it would make sense for us to work together and last year, Robert Hanson at Missouri Western and I started having a conversation about joining the two film festivals and we decided to make this our first year, so we’re very excited about that,” Erdman said. “In years past, we’ve always had the film festival downtown at Paradox Coffee and Theatre, which we loved, however, it was limiting us on space and screens, so this year we’ll be screening films at both Potter Hall at Missouri Western and the theater in Albrecht-Kemper Museum.”

Erdman said this year the film festival will include a special presentation to the family of Johnny Cathcart. 

“Johnny Cathcart was a St. Joseph native, a filmmaker who passed away, unfortunately, this year,” Erdman said. “He had submitted films to our film festival in the past and had won an award and gave a really inspirational commentary during our awards ceremony one year and we’re very big fans of his. So we’re honoring him this year with a Visionary Award.” 

Approximately 100 films were submitted this year and 64 were chosen for screening.

The Outlaw film festival takes place Thursday, Nov.2, through Saturday, Nov. 4th. 

For more information and a schedule, click here.