What started out as a few local films shown at Foster’s Martini Bar has turned into an event that lasts several days and features films from around the world.

Lisa Erdman is the Executive Director of the Outlaw Film Festival in St. Joseph which begins Wednesday night and continues through Saturday. Erdman said this is the 4th year of the festival which started out as Foster’s Film Festival due to the venue and now takes place at Paradox Coffee and Theatre.

“I’m a movie critic and movie fanatic and a lot of people in my social circle love movies as well. A group of us started talking about how sad it was that there was so much talent coming out of St. Joe with students at Missouri Western, students at Northwest Missouri State that would go into the film genre and then leave St. Joe because there’s really nothing here for them to do to pursue their dreams,” Erdman said. “So we thought let’s at least try to celebrate the ones that do stick around, so we were really encouraging local filmmakers to share their work with us. That’s kind of how it got started and that’s our main focus is to celebrate the local filmmakers and also give the community a place to experience film outside of your typical movie theater.”

Erdman said in addition to local filmmakers they have films from around the world from places such as Russia, China and France.

“But we really hope to see the local number of filmmakers that submit continue to climb,” Erdman said. “To that end, we’re going to have a separate award category at our awards ceremony that will be just for filmmakers who live within 100 miles of St. Joseph.”

Erdman said they began receiving more submissions when they joined the website FilmFreeway, where filmmakers can upload their work and festival directors can post information about their events, which in turn is accessible to filmmakers from around the world. Erdman said they began with seven films the first year and this year over 150 films were submitted and the event will screen 81 different films. The short films were chosen by a jury of judges including Broadcast Film Critics Association members from around the state and a professor from a local university. Films are ranked according to acting, writing, cinematography and more. Awards will be presented Saturday night.

Outlaw Film Festival – Awards Ceremony – Nov 5 from Marks Media on Vimeo.

Erdman said one of the highlights of the festival is the Young Filmmakers Showcase Thursday night featuring the work of filmmakers under the age of 21, including films by students from Lafayette High School.

The Outlaw Film Festival begins at 7 p.m. Wednesday, November 2nd. Film screenings begin at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

For a schedule, tickets and more information, go to the Outlaw Film Festival Facebook page or click here.

(Update) – A rollover crash tied up traffic on Belt Highway near Mitchell Wednesday morning.

Officer Brian McClintick with the St. Joseph Police Department said around 10:25 a 55-year-old St. Joseph woman was driving a red van north on the Belt and tried to turn right onto Mitchell and beat a yellow light. McClintick said a pickup driven by a 55-year-old St. Joseph man was westbound and had a green light. McClintick said the pickup hit the minivan causing the van to rotate and roll over.

The woman was reported to have minor injuries and refuse treatment at the scene. The driver of the pickup was not injured.

A red-light ticket was issued to the driver of the minivan.

Both directions of the Belt Highway were down to one lane while crews worked the scene. The highway reopened by 11:15 a.m.

Doniphan County officials have launched a new website in the hope of increasing the county’s online visibility and public awareness of area business and resources.

Adrienne Korson is the Dir. of Economic Development for the county and said the website launched Oct. 7.

“We have completely redesigned the website,” Korson said. “We redesigned it around economic development. Just to offer more of a new image and kick off the branding for the county.  With the website we also designed a new logo for Doniphan County as well.”

Korson said work on the new website began in March and the platform creation began in June.  She said the cost of the project was around $12,000 and included a $6,000 discount from Webcom Resources, the web development company based in Atchison, Kan. Half of the cost came from economic development, the Doniphan County Chamber of Commerce contributed $2,000 and the remaining amount was split between the other county departments.

“We saw that this could be an opportunity not to just list out what’s going on with the government and each department but also to kind of showcase the community.  Kind of give them a voice and create transparency and communication between all the cities and unincorporated areas,” Korson said. “Also to highlight the businesses in the area and really give them a digital presence as well.”

Features include a county news portal, community event calendars, pages for each of the cities, and a county-wide business directory. Korson said around 8,000 people live in Doniphan County.

“It really is a one stop shop for anything that you’re looking for dealing with in the county,” Korson said. “We’re hoping once everyone gets used to it and sees what kind of potential it has that we will be able to keep adding to it. Such as each of the city pages maybe to integrate more of the history about each of the city on there and making it into a news source for each area as well.”

She said businesses in the county can utilize the county’s website.

“We’re actually hoping that businesses will be able to market through the website. A lot of the businesses don’t have a digital presence so unless you live in the county and know that they exist people have a hard time knowing that they are there. Especially if they’re trying to Google the area and see what’s around and they don’t show up,” Korson said. “We’re trying to help them with their search optimization by giving them the opportunity for a small fee to be able to have their own landing page and be a featured business.”

To view the website CLICK HERE.

A hunter in Buchanan County was taken by life flight Wednesday morning after falling out of a tree.

Cpl. Sarah Hardin with the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office said emergency responders were called out around 9 a.m. to an area between 3393 and 3396 Bethel Road in the area of Route JJ near DeKalb.

Hardin said the man was bow hunting and fell out of his tree but that it’s unknown how long he laid there.  He did not have a cellphone on him so when he didn’t return home she said his family was concerned and went looking for him. The man was described as a white man in his 50s.  Hardin said she did not know if he was using a tree stand or wearing a safety harness.

Hardin said when the sheriff’s department arrived on scene crews were already loading him into the helicopter for transport. The extent of his injuries were unknown.

 

The last day to request an absentee ballot be mailed for the Nov. 8 General Election is Wednesday in Buchanan County.

“It usually takes about a day or two to get the request and then once we get the request we’ve got to mail the ballot,” said Mary Baack-Garvey, Buchanan County Clerk. “I would highly recommend folks that do need to have their ballots mailed that they fax or email us their request that way we get the ballot out as soon as we see their request come through.”

Baack-Garvey said while the last day to mail a ballot is Wednesday, absentee voting will continue until the close of business on Monday, Nov. 7.

“If you are going to be out of town or away from your jurisdiction on election day you can vote absentee,” Baack-Garvey said. “We have basically your three main excuses to vote absentee; the main one is if you’re going to be out of town or our military folks who are deployed overseas or another state and lastly ours that are on the permanent list are those who have trouble getting out. Maybe they can’t drive anymore, or maybe a physical confinement keeps them in their home.”

So far, Baack-Garvey said around 2,200 ballots have been cast absentee.

“Don’t think that absentee voting is completely done.  That only means that we can’t mail anymore out,” Baack-Garvey said.  “They can still come in and vote absentee.”

The Buchanan County Clerk’s Office will hold special hours for absentee voting ahead of the election.  Saturday, Nov. 5 the office will be open from 8 a.m. to noon.  The last day to vote absentee is Monday, Nov. 7 until the office closes at 5 p.m.  Absentee ballots can still be turned in by a relative or the actual voter until 7 p.m. on Election Day.

Voters will be able to cast a regular ballot Tuesday, Nov. 8 at the polls which are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.  For more information CLICK HERE.

The city, county and Corps of Engineers will break ground this week on the first phase of the Missouri River Levee System Project.

Voters approved the local funding segment of the $70 million project, the state supplied $5 million, and another $8 million comes from the city, county and levee districts. The quarter-cent sales tax approved in August will contribute about $11 million.

The first phase of the project will completely replace the gatewell and drainage pipe that serves interior drainage for Rosecrans Memorial Airport and nearby areas. This phase is expected to be completed by October 2017. As part of this first phase, the final design of all remaining phases will be completed to ensure consistency.

Officials say the levee repairs will help protect the airport and the 139th Airlift Wing, thousands of jobs, and $2 billion in public and private assets in the protected areas of the federal levees.

The ground breaking will be held at 2pm, on Thursday, November 3 northeast of the airport at the entrance of the Arthur DuPree Conservation area on Northwest Dupree Road.

The City of St. Joseph has announced its fall 2016 open burning dates.

Starting Monday, Nov. 7 and running through Sunday, Nov. 26 open burning will be permitted within city limits with some guidelines.

• Burning of yard waste of residential properties only – ONLY dry yard waste
such as leaves, brush and logs grown on the property can be burned. NO
trash, paper, lumber or building debris may be burned.

• Burning is allowed between 10:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

• All fires must be in an upright cylindrical metal container with a volume equal
to no more than 55 gallons. Containers must be located at least fifteen (15)
feet away from any building. Only one burn container per residence.

• All fires shall be monitored from a point on the property where the fire is
located, by a person capable of containing a fire, should containment become
necessary.

• Fire-fighting material, including but not limited to, a garden hose or a
container of water sufficient to contain any fire started shall be at the site of
the fire.

• If weather conditions such as high winds indicate the safety of the
community or the public may be endangered or if open burning may create a
health hazard, the Fire Chief or Health Director may invoke a temporary
burning ban.

The City said any violation of the open burning restrictions may result in a summons to appear in
court for a misdemeanor violation.

For more information CLICK HERE.