A man was taken to the hospital Sunday night after being shot in the leg.
According to Captain Jeff Wilson with the St. Joseph Police Department, a man was shot in the leg in the 3900 block of Pettis Road at 10:45 Sunday night.
The man was transported to Mosaic Life Care with non-life threatening injuries.
Captain Wilson said no one is in custody at this time but investigators are looking into some leads in the case.
The month of October will kick off in downtown St. Joseph with a family friendly celebration of German heritage.
Oktjoeberfest co-organizer Galen Gould said the second annual event started because there was previously nothing like it in the area.
“I’m just excited for the whole atmosphere,” Gould said. “The way it all ties together with the German oompah music going, delicious food in my hand, a good drink in my other hand and just seeing everybody coming out and having fun. I think it’s a great time, fun for the whole family. It’s not just about the beer and the food, we’ve got the history exhibits and the libraries involved to make it a full community event for everyone.”
Gould said Paradox Coffee will be providing food.
“In addition to the traditional brats and pretzels and sauerkraut, they’re going to have all kinds of neat coffee dishes and desserts that I’m really excited about,” Gould said. “We’ve also added a fourth band this year so we’ll have almost non-stop entertainment with music and Smooth Endings, our event partner, is doing a selection of German beers.”
The event also includes a children’s activity area hosted by the St. Joseph Public Library, a German genealogy exhibit, polka lessons, a costume contest and more.
Admission to the event, which is a part of First Saturdays, is free. Food, drink and merchandise are available for purchase.
Oktjoeberfest begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Coleman Hawkins Park in St. Joseph.
A man was seriously injured in a stabbing Thursday night in the area of 1415 North Belt.
Captain Jeff Wilson with the St. Joseph Police Department said officers responded at 6:30 p.m. in reference to a report of an assault. Wilson said a delivery person was making a delivery when he was approached by a white male subject that he knew. The two engaged in a fight, the suspect left in a vehicle and the victim then realized he’d been stabbed.
He was transported to the hospital for treatment of serious but non-life threatening injuries. Wilson said the injury was described as being on the lower right side of the waist area.
Wilson said there is no suspect in custody yet but they do have a person of interest in the case.
Police are investigating a shooting incident involving a juvenile Thursday at a residence in the 3400 block of South 16th Street.
According to Captain Jeff Wilson with the St. Joseph Police Department, officers and EMS responded at 6:40 p.m. to a report of a juvenile suffering from a gunshot injury. The juvenile was transported to Mosaic Life Care and then Children’s Mercy Hospital for treatment of a serious injury.
Wilson said no one is in custody at this time and they are still investigating the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
The St. Joseph School District and Police Department say they haven’t been able to establish any credibility regarding recent social media threats from a “clown” account.
School District Director of Student Services Dr. Solon Haynes said a parent notified the district of a social media account, “Aint Clownin Around” featuring a clown in the profile picture, which posted at least three threats against all schools.
Haynes said they are taking the threats seriously and he met with police and other school administration. Both Haynes and Captain Jeff Wilson with the St. Joseph Police Department said they haven’t been able to establish any credibility to the threats and with other clown-related incidents reported across the country, it was only a matter of time before something similar happened in St. Joseph.
Captain Wilson said the department will be increasing security at certain schools tomorrow.
Wilson said they received recent reports about suspicious people dressed as clowns in the area but all reports have been unfounded. Any suspicious activity should always be reported by calling the Communications Center at (816) 271-4777.
While it still feels like summer, the first official day of autumn was Thursday and Hunts Orchard begins offering fall activities this weekend.
The orchard, located off I-29 in Amazonia, will begin offering hayrides and more beginning Saturday morning and continuing every Saturday and Sunday through October.
As previously reported, Hunts Orchard opened under a new family in June. Jeff Miller took over April 1st and Keith, Jeff’s father, who helps out at the orchard said they will kick off fall activities on Saturday.
“Our busy time is just starting,” Miller said. “We’re starting our pumpkin fest (Saturday). We’ll have hayrides for the kids, a petting zoo, a hay maze, face painting, just all sorts of things for the kids to do. A trip to the pumpkin patch and we’ll have, of course, some special things on sale.”
For five dollars, children can enjoy the hayride, petting zoo and the hay maze. Miller said they will continue to offer the same items and some new ones at the store.
“Of course, our main seller is apples this time of year, we also have our own homemade cider, it’s made here on the premises,” Miller said. “We have candied apples that we make here and then we have fall fruits, squash, we have a sizable selection of Amish jams and jellies, Chase candy. We just got a contract with a maker of jerky so we’re trying to expand in some areas, so we’ve got a pretty good range of things here.”
Miller said his favorite things about fall are the fall evenings and apples.
“I brought my family here when my kids were small and now we’ve brought the grandkids here and it’s something we did all along,” Miller said. “So when it came up available we were really excited about being able to make it work some more.”
Hunts Orchard is open from 9 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. on Sunday. Hayrides will be offered until 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
For more information, visit Hunts Orchard Facebook page.
Spectators and football players at Savannah’s game against Cameron tonight will honor local children in both school districts who have or had cancer.
One of the children honored during the game will be 5th grader Will Walker of Savannah.
Aimee Kennedy, a friend of Will’s family said Will is a huge inspiration to a lot of people.
“He found out that he had sarcoma when he was in 3rd grade and went through intensive radiation treatment,” Kennedy said. “This year, just about a month ago, they came back with some tests and found out that it had returned. So they told the parents that he needed to have his arm amputated. So last Wednesday he had his arm amputated.”
Kennedy said the whole community has rallied around him.
“Will is a huge inspiration to all of us. It’s hard for me to even talk about it without getting teary eyed. He is incredible,” Kennedy said. “The night he came home from the hospital after having his arm amputated, we went to visit him and the smile on his face is always there. He’s a rock star. I think it’s given all the kids, especially high school kids, a lot of them were friends with Bradon Krull that had just passed away with cancer a couple months ago, so, for a lot of these boys, they look up to him. And I think when they’re having a bad day, they think of him and it makes them appreciate life so much more.”
Kennedy said Will plans to lead the team onto the field tonight. Kennedy adds they will be selling shirts at the game with all proceeds going to Camp Quality, a week-long summer camp for children diagnosed with cancer. Kennedy said there will be a short presentation during halftime at the game to honor six children battling cancer.
“We will be honoring three kids from Cameron and three kids from Savannah,” Kennedy said. “A couple kids are in remission, a couple kids are still battling. At the end of the little ceremony, we will also release two balloons in remembrance of the two kids that we’ve lost, one from Savannah and also one from Cameron, from childhood cancer.”
The game starts at 7 p.m. in Savannah.
A local organization offers training this weekend on the effects of trauma on children.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater St. Joseph, through a grant from Mosaic Life-Care, is presenting “Fostering Resilience: Preparing children and teens to THRIVE through both good and challenging times with a Trauma-Informed approach.”
Tiffany Miller is the Program Manager for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater St. Joseph. She said they serve around 100 children a year in mentoring relationships and noticed a lot of children in the program and on the waiting list have had an experience with trauma.
“We want to inform community members who have children or work with children on a little bit of trauma informed care as well as resiliency of children and how to thrive through good and challenging times,” Miller said. “Whether they’re working with children or teens in their own life or through a school, through neighbor kids, we want to inform the community about how to work with these children in the best way possible.”
Miller said the event is for anyone who works with kids, has kids or is interested in learning about the effects of trauma.
“I can’t imagine anyone who would not benefit from coming to this training,” Miller said. “I think it’s a misconception that trauma has to be some large event. You think of a child who’s gone through a tornado event who is certainly experiencing trauma, but it really doesn’t have to be something that catastrophic, it can be something very minor that most children have gone through. It’s really just teaching community members how to work best with the kids in our community.”
Guest speakers include Jean West and Dr. Tim Crowley. West is a TLC Certified Trauma Consultant and Trainer, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and employee of the St. Joseph School District. Crowley is a nationally known motivational speaker and leadership and resilience expert.
The training event will be held from 9:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday at Grace Evangelical Church, 5103 South 50th.
To RSVP, click here. The event is for adults only and is open to the first 250 who RSVP.
Police are searching for a driver after a possible stolen vehicle was crashed on North Woodbine Wednesday morning.
Sgt. Brett Kelly with the St. Joseph Police Department said an officer was patrolling near 3100 North Woodbine around 3 a.m., when a vehicle believed to be stolen was seen in the area. The officer didn’t try to pull over the vehicle, but the driver saw the officer’s car and took off at a high rate of speed.
The officer drove in the direction of where the vehicle went and found the vehicle crashed and that the driver had fled the scene. The vehicle blocked traffic and officers were still on scene at 4:30 a.m.
No one in relation to the incident has been located or taken into custody.
Two St. Joseph residents are in custody early Wednesday morning in connection with a stolen vehicle.
According to Sgt. Brett Kelly with the St. Joseph Police Department, at 2:52 a.m., officers saw what was believed to be a recently stolen vehicle at the Speedy’s Convenience Store at 1525 St. Joseph Avenue.
When officers went to make contact with the two subjects there was a short struggle before they were taken into custody. Correction: Two males, ages 32 and 37 were taken into custody, not a male and a female as originally reported.
