A 17-year-old Hiawatha, Kansas, student received two awards this week for her actions after a school bus rollover in Brown County last year. 

As previously reported, on the morning of November 18, 2015, a school bus driver failed to stop the vehicle at an intersection about 10 miles south of Hiawatha. According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, the driver was attempting to turn onto the highway when the bus went off the road and rolled one time. 

Brown County Sheriff John Merchant said while the over 20 students in the bus were shook up by the rollover, 17-year-old Raven Zimmers kept her cool.

“This young lady, after the accident, she (went) through the bus, made sure everybody was off the bus, helped them off the bus, she even sustained injuries to herself, but without thinking of herself she went ahead and helped everybody else,” Merchant said.

According to Brown County Sheriff’s Office Public Resource Safety Officer J.D. Clary, the state of Kansas requires school districts to conduct bus evacuation drills twice a year. Clary said Zimmers remembered her training that day. 

“One of the things I always stressed to the older kids was – don’t forget the little people,” Clary said. “Because they’re going to be scared, they’re going to be confused and they’re going to be looking for somebody to cling to and I told them I wanted them to be that person. Obviously, Miss Zimmers did just that and there were a lot of elementary school age children on that bus.” 

Tuesday night, at the Hiawatha High School Spring Athletic Awards, Zimmers was awarded the Kansas Highway Patrol Honorary Trooper Award and the Brown County Sheriff’s Department Award for Valor. 

Clary said both awards are not given to just anyone and the Highway Patrol Award is an especially prestigious award. 

“You have to do something pretty amazing in order to be eligible to even be recommended to the superintendent for that award,” Clary said. “That’s something the superintendent and command staff do when someone is nominated – they go through the records, they review the accident report, they talk to the trooper involved and anyone else before they make their decision. That I know of, in the 27 years that I was a trooper, I’ve never known anyone younger than probably 25 ever receive that award. That kind of goes to show you just how amazing the things that Miss Zimmers did that day under all the stress.” 

In addition to Zimmers’ actions that day in November, Clary said emergency responders reacted to the situation smoothly. 

“We have what’s called a Squad 48,” Clary said. “That’s whenever there’s a bad injury accident or possible fatality – this crew goes out – they’ve got the Jaws of Life, all those things. We had first responders, we had ambulances from the Horton Hospital (and) Hiawatha Hospital… within 25 minutes, all the kids on the bus were being seen by physicians at either the Horton Community Hospital or the Hiawatha Hospital. I think that’s pretty good for a little community with less than 10,000 people in it to have first responders that are that good at what they do. They were prepared and they were able to answer the call when it came.” 

Clary and Sheriff Merchant both said between first responders, surrounding communities and Zimmers, they were able to make the best of a bad situation. 

“An amazing girl,” Clary said. “We’re very proud that she’s from Brown County.”

A single vehicle crash on westbound 36 Highway shut down traffic for about two hours Thursday night. 

According to the St. Joseph Police Department, a woman was driving westbound on 36 between 28th and 22nd around 11:30 p.m. when the vehicle overturned, hit a guardrail and rolled multiple times, landing on its top. 

The driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. 

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

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(Update 7:45 p.m.) A driver suffered minor injuries after a truck overturned on eastbound 36 Thursday afternoon.

According to the St. Joseph Police Department, around 3:20 p.m., a young male driver was driving too fast for the weather conditions on east 36, west of the Belt Highway, when the vehicle hydroplaned, struck a concrete wall and a guardrail and the vehicle flipped, landing on its top.

Police said the driver suffered minor injuries.

No other information has been released at this time. We’ll update as we find out more.

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A truck overturned on eastbound 36 west of the Belt Highway Thursday afternoon.

According to the St. Joseph Police Department, as of 4:05 p.m. officers were on scene.

No other information has been released at this time. We’ll update as we find out more.

Memorial Day weekend often kicks off the cookout season along with the challenge of staying healthy during the summer. 

Between fairs, baseball games and cookouts, many unhealthy options tend to be on the menu. 

Katie Buchs is the Nutrition and Health Education Specialist at the University of Missouri Extension in Buchanan County. She said the key to staying healthy during this season of hot dogs, nachos and ice cream is moderation. 

“If (eating unhealthy food) becomes a regular thing that occurs, then that’s when you have those negative effects which could be loss of energy, weight gain or even then leading to chronic diseases,” Buchs said.

Buchs said she suggests, whenever you’re attending a summer food event, to search out or bring a healthier option. 

“For example, if you go to a friend’s house, maybe offer to bring a salad or fruit to the event so that way you know that you do have that healthier option,” Buchs said. “Something else to think about is, with the summer, farmer’s markets are getting underway, so that’s a great way to be able to include fruits and vegetables into your diet, but also (they’re) cheaper because they are in season.” 

Buchs said farmer’s markets also are a great opportunity to get kids involved with healthy eating. 

“You can let them maybe pick a fruit or vegetable they’d want to try and they can help find the recipe and maybe even include them in the cooking process,” Buchs said. “Which, then, they’re more likely to actually enjoy the fruit and vegetable.” 

Buchs said the University of Missouri Extension created a smartphone app called, “Seasonal and Simple.” 

“It lists what fruits and vegetables are currently in season, it has recipes for each fruit and vegetable, it can find farmer’s markets near you,” Buchs said. “On the iPhone option, it (has) food preservation tips such as canning, dehydrating and such.” 

For more information on anything nutrition, agriculture, 4-H or community development related, contact the University of Missouri Extension’s Buchanan County Office at (816) 279-1691 or go to their website.

K-JO 105.5 will hold the 12th annual Radio-A-Thon on Friday to benefit Camp Quality of Northwest Missouri. Camp Quality is a week-long summer camp for children diagnosed with cancer. K-JO Morning Personality Gregg Lynn will be broadcasting live from the St. Joseph Hy-vee from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Friday. Lynn said the camp is run entirely off of donations. 

“They have over a hundred kids every year (and) it costs well over $1,000 per kid to send them to Camp Quality. They offer a summer camp experience for these kids that are very, very sick. They get to go fishing and boating and things that a lot of kids take for granted that these kids never get to do – they spend their whole weeks with doctors and nurses and doctor’s visits and sometimes can’t even go to school, but they get to go to camp for a week. Camp Quality also offers year-round support for the kids and their families with some outings and events for them to help out as well.” 

Adam Nelson is the Co-Executive Director of Camp Quality of Northwest Missouri. Nelson said the camp, which started in 1985, offers a different aspect of treatment. 

“There’s the actual medical treatment, which we know is very important,  but then we think the emotional and support side of it is also important in the treatment process,” Nelson said. “This is just an avenue for those kids who missed out on getting to go to Boy Scout or Girl Scout camp or church camp – that they get the chance to go to a camp and experience some of these things. Our tagline is – ‘Letting kids with cancer be kids again’ – That’s what we’re doing. For a week, we’re taking (care) of the medical part of it for them. So they’re not worried about the doctor’s appointments, they’re not worried about (taking their) medication at the right time. They’re focused solely on just being a kid again and having fun.” 

This year’s week of camp runs June 12th through the 17th. Nelson said funds raised during Friday’s Radio-A-Thon will go toward campground fees and the cost for campers to be able to attend the camp for free. 

“I truly am blessed with the Northwest Missouri community and the surrounding state communities as well,” Nelson said. “They’ve supported us now for 31 years and we truly could not run Camp Quality and do all the things that we do for the kids diagnosed with cancer without the support of our community.” 

The public is invited to visit Hy-vee on Friday and make a donation to Camp Quality, or call in a pledge to (816) 232-CAMP. They can also donate online anytime on the K-JO website.

St. Joseph Police are investigating a dead body found this morning in the 2200 block of Colhoun.

According to police, the body of a deceased white male was found around 12:25 Wednesday morning in a parking lot. The area of 22nd and 23rd Streets from Frederick to Colhoun is closed until further notice.

As we learn more we will update the situation.