Sarah Thomack – Page 54 – St. Joseph Post Archive

St. Joseph School District starts summer programs this week

Posted on May 15, 2016May 16, 2016

The St. Joseph School District offers students the opportunity to keep up with their skills over the summer.

Summer programs, offered throughout the school district, will run from May 17 to June 9. A variety of programs are offered for all students. High school students can earn credit, make up credit, take personal finance classes or get involved in a marketing internship.

According to Charisse Giseburt, Summer Program Coordinator for the St. Joseph School District, they offer a program just for sixth graders called, “Bridge to Middle School.”

“Those sixth graders can come over and get to know the building and procedures,” Giseburt said. “(They) meet some of the teachers and then go over things like study skills and that way they’re just not as nervous in the fall when school starts.”

Giseburt said offering a regular summer program each year helps children keep their skills sharp and gives teachers the opportunity to delve into subjects they might not have time to teach during the regular school year.

“So during the summer there may be more fun activities, but also very educational,” Giseburt said. “So oftentimes the kids will be learning things and not even realize it, because it’s just structured much different than the school year. It’s just important to keep them reading and working on their math facts and things like that, so when they come back in August there doesn’t have to be as much review for those kids.”

Giseburt said it’s not too late to sign up for classes at any of the schools or online.

Local law enforcement to participate in the Torch Run

Posted on May 15, 2016May 16, 2016

The St. Joseph Police Department and other local law enforcement will raise awareness for the Special Olympics by running this week.

The annual Law Enforcement Torch Run began May 9th and continues through May 20th to end up at the Opening Ceremonies for the State Games in Springfield, Missouri. The Torch Run will be in St. Joseph on Tuesday, May 17th.

The Law Enforcement Torch Run was established by officers about 30 years ago to help raise awareness for the Special Olympics.

Rita Ketchem is Administrative Assistant at the St. Joseph Police Department and the Region One Coordinator for the Special Olympic Law Enforcement Torch Run.

“(The Torch Run) just kind of caught hold and began to become a fundraiser as well – because we do sell t-shirts to support the cause,” Ketchem said. “All that money does go to our athletes, not just in the state of Missouri, but this is a worldwide movement. The money is used to fund our athletes to send them to competitions, to get health care for them – basically just to help our community that suffers with intellectual disabilities.”

According to Ketchem, they hold other events throughout the year to raise funds including a polar plunge and “Tip a Cop.” The St. Joseph Police Department works as a team with the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Department and the Corrections Facilities in Cameron and Chillicothe to raise money for local athletes.

“We have found that by being involved with our athletes, we just always feel like that we have a lot to learn from them,” Ketchem said. “They have so much love to give and are just so supportive of each other that the rest of the world could really learn a lot from them.”

According to Ketchem, as of 2014, Missouri ranked sixth in the world for the amount of money raised from the Torch Run.
The local route of the Torch Run will depart at 9 a.m. on Tuesday from Maryville and is estimated to arrive and start at 3 p.m. from the Nature Center in St. Joseph. The run is about the distance of a 5K through the River Front Trail and ends at the St. Jo Frontier Casino.

Police seek information on vandalism Thursday morning

Posted on May 12, 2016May 12, 2016

A rash of vandalism was reported in St. Joseph early Thursday morning.

According to the St. Joseph Police Department, reports of someone breaking out car windows were called in between 12:30 and 1:30 a.m. Police said nothing appears to be stolen from the cars and the destruction covered a large area from the south end to Midtown.

There are no suspects at this time and anyone with information is asked to call the tips hotline or the non-emergency number at (816) 271-4777.

Sales tax to help pay for levee repairs (Correction)

Posted on May 10, 2016May 11, 2016

The St. Joseph City Council approved at Monday night’s meeting an intergovernmental agreement to kick-start levee repairs.

According to St. Joseph Mayor Bill Falkner, the repairs to the Missouri River Levee System, needed since the flood of 1993, will be funded a variety of different ways. The Corp of Engineers will put a large part of the funding toward the project, along with the cities, counties and levee districts. Also a quarter-cent (corrected) sales tax will be put on the ballot which, if approved by voters, would also help pay a portion of the project. The total cost of the project is over $60 million.

Also Monday night, a public hearing was held before the meeting to address the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnership funds. Falkner said no one offered comments at the public hearing. The bill passed to submit the Second Year Annual Plan for the CDBG and HOME funds to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

The funds are slated to be distributed to St. Joseph organizations including the Northwest Missouri Children’s Advocacy Center and the YWCA. To view the entire proposal, click here.

UPDATE: Firefighter injured during Buchanan Avenue fire

Posted on May 10, 2016May 11, 2016

A fire early Tuesday morning in the 1600 block of Buchanan Avenue caused significant damage to a house.

According to Mike Neylon with the St. Joseph Fire Department, the two-alarm fire was called in around 1 a.m. Tuesday. No one was found in the house after a search. A captain was injured while fighting the fire when he fell through the floor and injured his hand. He was treated and released.

Twenty-five firefighters were on scene and it took five hours to put out the blaze. Neylon said the fire was in the ceiling and roof and caused the wall to bulge.

A call reporting smoke from a hot spot came in around 9:50 a.m. which was quickly put out again. The investigation into the cause of the fire continues.

St. Joseph City Council to hold public hearing over funding

Posted on May 9, 2016May 9, 2016

The St. Joseph City Council will hold a public hearing Monday night on the City’s Consolidated Second Year Annual Plan regarding the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).

According to St. Joseph Mayor Bill Falkner, the Citizen’s Committee put together a proposal on how to distribute funds from the CDBG and the HOME Investment Partnership funds the city may receive in Fiscal Year 2016/2017. In previous years, CDBG funds went toward various organizations in St. Joseph such as the YWCA, the Bartlett Center and Second Harvest. HOME funds went toward housing projects including Habitat for Humanity.

The hearing will give residents, especially low and moderate income, and community organizations, the opportunity to review and comment on the city’s proposed use of the available CDBG and the HOME Investment Partnership funds.

The public hearing will be held at 7 p.m. in the Council Chamber at City Hall. The council will vote during their regular meeting on passing a bill to submit the plan for the use of the funds. The proposal for the funds can be viewed here.

Work begins on Ag-Expo Interchange

Posted on May 6, 2016May 10, 2016

Interchange Project Plans. Photo by Sarah Thomack — Interchange Project Plans.

The first phase in a project that will benefit agriculture in the area began Friday morning.

A groundbreaking for the Missouri Highway 36 Interchange took place near the future site of the Buchanan County Agri-Business Expo Center on Corporate Drive. The around five million dollar interchange will make way for the expo center.

Sharon Cornelius is the Agri-Business Expo President and CEO. Cornelius said the interchange and eventual expo center will help economic growth and develop 60 new jobs within the area.

“The Ag-Expo will be that place where we can celebrate not only agriculture and our youth but our workforce and to just have fun together,” Cornelius said. “Our vision is to be a gathering place that celebrates our heritage and inspires our future – and that’s really what this is about – is inspiring our future.”

St. Joseph FFA members Dylan Curtin, Jake Roderick, Kindall Wisdom and Kelsey Gillenwater.

Several FFA members were at the groundbreaking ceremony and said they are excited about the future of agriculture in the area.

“Ag isn’t really big in this community,” St. Joseph FFA member Kindall Wisdom said. “With this Expo Center popping up, hopefully it will spread the word about FFA.”

One purpose of the center will be to serve as a place for organizations such as FFA or 4-H to come together and hold contests and other events.

Several donations were made at the event to help construct the center, including a donation presented by Gary Shorman, President and CEO of Eagle Communications.

“This is what Eagle does best,” Shorman said. “We connect with our communities.”

General Manager of Eagle Communications in St. Joseph Gary Exline, Agri-Business Expo President and CEO Sharon Cornelius and President and CEO of Eagle Communications Gary Shorman.

According to Sharon Cornelius, they project that work on the expo center will begin during or after 2018, depending on fundraising.

“The interchange will take about a year to (be) built. The plan and the projected goal is to be working on the infrastructure of the property – putting in roads, utilities, those things – within that year and then begin to build on the commercial side in 2017, 2018, and the Ag Expo beginning to start soon after that.”

For more information on the Agri-Business Expo Center, visit their webpage.

Apple Blossom festivities begin on Friday

Posted on May 5, 2016

Sunshine is in the forecast for the annual Apple Blossom Parade this weekend.

The event began in 1926 and is always held the first Saturday in May. According to Apple Blossom Parade Executive Director Michelle Wolfe, the parade theme this year is “Under the Big Top.”

“It celebrates the circus,” Wolfe said. “We thought it would be a fun, creative way to entertain parade goers this year.”

The parade starts at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday at Noyes Boulevard and Frederick Avenue and ends around 5th Street and Felix Street. In addition to the parade on Saturday, other events will be going on over the weekend including a barbecue contest and a Discover Downtown event. Brian Myers is the President of First Saturdays Downtown St. Joseph Inc. and one of the organizers for Discover Downtown. Myers said First Saturdays is a year-round monthly event that started small three years ago and now includes a group of 30 businesses.

“Our main focus is promoting arts and music within the community, but with an emphasis on the small businesses that make up the downtown community,” Myers said.

First Saturdays typically include live music, art openings, sales and promotions. Twice a year, they sponsor an event at a park. This weekend Discover Downtown coincides with the Apple Blossom Festival. According to Myers, people can watch the parade from downtown at Felix Street Square and afterward, the St. Joseph Public Library will sponsor a kid’s area and there will be vendors with food, art and crafts and live entertainment including bands from St. Joseph, Kansas City and Des Moines.

“It’s a big weekend,” Myers said.” There’s just lots of different things going on (and) it’s going to be a really warm weekend. Usually the weather cooperates and people are tired of being cooped up in their homes in the winter. This is symbolically, in St. Joseph, the weekend where everybody starts to get out of the house and do things and we’re thrilled to have them come downtown and participate in our event.”

The barbecue contest begins with the People’s Choice Awards at 6 p.m. Friday night at the Civic Center Park and includes live entertainment. For more details on all the events this weekend, visit the First Saturdays or Apple Blossom Parade Facebook pages.