Charges have been filed in connection with a fatal shooting in Buchanan County Sunday night.

Buchanan County Sheriff’ Mike Strong identified the victim as  75-year-old Louis Nold, who was killed at his home at 3407 SE McQueen Road.

Prosecutors charged Justin Paul Appleberry, 23, of St. Joseph with second degree murder Monday afternoon. A judge set bail at $100,000. Appleberry is due in court this Friday.

Sheriff Mike Strong told reporters that on Sunday around 10:45 p.m. the Communication Center received a call from the victim’s home.

“Upon arriving, deputies discovered the unresponsive body of 74 year old Louis P. Nold,” Strong said. “Mr. Nold was transported to Mosaic Life Care where he was pronounced dead.”

“He was shot to death at his home last night,” Col. Bill Puett said.  “We have a 23-year-old male in custody.  That was done fairly quickly with a partnership with the DeKalb sheriff’s office and Missouri State Highway Patrol.”

Investigators say Appleberry was identified by a witness, that he made a statement to authorities, and that he made reference to killing other people.

According to a probable cause statement filed in Buchanan County Circuit Court, investigators believe Appleberry used to live at the McQueen Road address with the victim.  Investigators say in the affidavit that the defendant kicked open the back door of the house, and once inside used a firearm obtained at the location to shoot and kill the victim.

“The defendant was identified by a witness at the location where the shooting occurred, and by statements subsequently made by the defendant,” according to the affidavit.   In the affidavit, officer Mark Brock said that he believes the defendant poses a danger to the community because the defendant “made reference to killing other persons.”

Puett said investigators were out all night working the scene and two other locations to recover evidence in DeKalb County, where the suspect was arrested.

Sheriff Strong said an autopsy has been scheduled for Tuesday at Frontier Forensics in Kansas City, Kansas.  Strong could not say how quickly we might receive a preliminary report from the autopsy.

 

 

The Buchanan County Sheriff’s Department is investigating after a fatal shooting Sunday night in St. Joseph.

According to Col. Bill Puett, around 10:45 p.m., a 75-year-old man was shot in the 3400 block of Southeast McQueen Road. He was transported by ambulance to the hospital where he later died. A 23-year-old man was taken into custody in DeKalb County in connection with the shooting.

The shooting is still under investigation and Puett said they want to notify family members before releasing anymore details. He said more information should be available later today.

Application for Christmas assistance will be accepted this week at several agencies in St. Joseph.

The Salvation Army in St. Joseph said it’s accepting applications from eligible families and seniors from Oct. 31 to Nov. 23 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Applications can be made in person at the Salvation Army located at 602 Messanie.

“Families and seniors who qualify for Christmas assistance receive food for holiday meals and toys for children in the family,” said LeeAnn Hobson with the Salvation Army.

AFL-CIO Community Services is also preparing for its annual Adopt-A-Family Christmas program starting this week. Starting Tuesday, Nov. 1 it will begin accepting applications from families and individuals needing help until Dec. 2 Hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday Nov. 19 and Dec. 3 from 9 a.m. to 12 by appointment only.

“It’s designed to match needy families and individuals in the area with families, groups and organizations that are willing to help so everyone can enjoy the Christmas holidays,” said Penny Adams, Ex. Dir. with AFL-CIO Community Services. “Applicants should not bring children when applying for the program.”

Income guidelines apply with both programs.

One of the items on the November ballot involves a decision on a cigarette tax in Missouri.

Amendment 3 proposes increasing taxes on cigarettes to generate funds for a Early Childhood Health and Education Trust Fund.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website, Missouri has the lowest cigarette tax in the nation at 17 cents per pack.

Linda Rallo with Raise Your Hand For Kids said the proposed tax would generate about $300 million annually for early childhood investments.

“The founders of Raise Your Hands For Kids, myself and a few others, have long tried to figure out where we are going to get new money for childhood education and a lot of us had been working in that field and there’s just never been a source of revenue that’s been devoted for kids birth through five,” Rallo said. “The tobacco tax is so low in Missouri, it’s not even close to our neighboring states and it’s sort of like the last pot of money that’s really available for anything new and we felt that it would be a good place to get these new funds for these needed investments.”

Rallo said the reason she and others involved with Raise Your Hand For Kids are supporting the passing of Amendment 3 is because they believe early childhood should be more of a priority.

“Because those first five years is when 90% of the brain development occurs, it’s where children learn soft skills like how to get along, how to communicate, how to control their behavior. These are the things that are not being developed,” Rallo said. “We came to this because the problem is that the workforce we have is just not where it needs to be and so (we were) trying to peel all the layers back and figure out how can we get a better workforce, it really starts in those first five years.”

 Missouri Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association Executive Director Ron Leone said while early childhood development is important, this is the wrong vehicle to support it.

“They are using children as pawns because the ultimate goal of Amendment 3 is to pass a tax that falls most heavily on ‘big tobacco’s’ competition,” Leone said. “So the goal and result of Amendment 3, certainly from ‘big tobacco’s’ perspective is to heavily tax their competition, increase the price of their competition which means more people buy big tobacco products and that means big tobacco cigarette profits increase.”

Leone said he could support a tax increase if it was handled differently.

“The better way to do it is to have a fair and reasonable tax increase, nothing this large, because I think people want to increase the tax on cigarettes but they always come out with such an outrageous and unfair tax increase that even most non-smokers realize it’s unreal and unfair and so they vote no,” Leone said. “They should not have created all of this new bureaucracy and all of these new programs, the money should flow through the appropriations process so our elected officials could be accountable to the voter as to how the money is spent.”

Amendment 3 will be on Missouri’s November 8th ballot and will ask the following:

Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:

-increase taxes on cigarettes each year through 2020, at which point this additional tax will total 60 cents per pack of 20;

-create a fee paid by cigarette wholesalers of 67 cents per pack of 20 on certain cigarettes, which fee shall increase annually; and

-deposit funds generated by these taxes and fees into a newly established Early Childhood Health and Education Trust Fund?

When cigarette tax increases are fully implemented, estimated additional revenue to state government is $263 million to $374 million annually, with limited estimated implementation costs. The revenue will fund only programs and services allowed by the proposal. The fiscal impact to local governmental entities is unknown.

Fair Ballot Language:

A “yes” vote will amend the Missouri Constitution to increase taxes on cigarettes each year through 2020, at which point this additional tax will total 60 cents per pack of 20. This amendment also creates a fee paid by cigarette wholesalers of 67 cents per pack of 20 on certain cigarettes. This amendment further provides that the funds generated by these taxes and fees shall be deposited into a newly established Early Childhood Health and Education Trust Fund.

A “no” vote will not amend the Missouri Constitution relating to taxes and fees on cigarettes.

If passed, this measure will increase taxes on cigarettes.

Before voting in the general election on November 8th, area residents can vote to help a gardening and cooking program in the St. Joseph School District.

Mosaic Life Care, along with the St. Joseph School District, was chosen as one of the finalists as part of the Neighborhood Assist Program through State Farm. Over 2,000 people applied for the opportunity for their cause to win $25,000. Mosaic Team Leader of Community Health Marcy George said their cause made it to the top 200. George said their cause is the school and community gardens and the cooking classes that go with them.

“Drew Bouge is our Youth Health Coordinator and he is our liaison with the school district,” George said. “We have school and community gardens currently at eight schools and Drew also teaches healthy cooking classes, called Kids in the Kitchen. We would really like to expand to two more community gardens and expand cooking classes to possibly as many as four or five schools. We were looking for some funding (and) it was just a great opportunity that this should come about because this was the kind of project they were interested in, it was community development and so I applied and now we’re in the voting phase.”

George said if they win, the funds will go toward garden equipment and more.

“The gardens require fencing, they require a tiller, there are hoses, that sort of thing, and the main cost for the cooking classes actually is the food,” George said. “We’re trying to teach kids how to eat healthier so we actually prepare the food in these cooking classes.”

George said she thinks their application for the program was chosen because it benefits the entire community.

“The produce that is grown in the gardens is accessible to anyone who lives around one of those gardens,” George said. “Residents nearby can come and take part in the harvest and take produce from it, it’s also sent home with the kids at the schools for their families. In some places where we have gardens, there is not ready access to fresh produce, there isn’t a grocery store nearby, so this actually makes produce available in areas where there might not be any. Given the problem of childhood obesity and that this is focused on eating healthier and also growing fresh produce, I think that maybe that appealed to the review board.”

The gardens are located at the Lake Contrary, Pickett, Lindbergh, Humboldt, Mark Twain, Edison, Parkway and the Amazonia Elementary Schools.

State Farm will fund the 40 causes with the most votes by the deadline.

Anyone can vote up to 10 times a day for the cause until November 4.

To vote, click here.

A rollover crash in downtown St. Joseph sent two people to the hospital Friday afternoon.

Officer Lucas Winder with the St. Joseph Police Department said the crash took place around 2:30 p.m. in which a pedestrian was hit by the vehicle.  The St. Joseph Fire Department was called for extrication. Winder said both the pedestrian and the driver were transported by ambulance with unknown injuries.

Jordan Fueston said he met the driver of the car a short time earlier at the post office.

“He was trying to get to his home in Olathe.  He couldn’t read any maps or directions and so I was just going to guide him down there.  He was following me,” Fueston said. “We were getting ready to get on 229 and he was behind me.  I didn’t see what happened I heard the sound and looked in the back and I saw the car flip up.”

Chris Martin said he was working downtown and witnessed the whole incident. Martin said the driver of the blue car was heading north on 4th Street and cut the corner too hard hitting the curb then veered off to the right, hit the wall and flipped over. He said when he and a fellow coworker went to go help the driver they found another man laying in front of the car.

Winder said the crash is still under investigation.

 

 

A Doniphan County man was killed in a farming accident Thursday.

Deputy Raymond Hall with the Doniphan County Sheriff’s Office said authorities responded to a tractor rollover near the area of Monument Road and 130th Rd about 7 miles south of Wathena.  Hall said they arrived shortly before 10 p.m. after receiving a call from family members of the deceased.

Hall said Morris Miller, 80 left around 3 p.m. to go mow his pasture. Sometime between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. the tractor rolled over and pinned Miller underneath. Miller was pronounced dead at the scene.

A man was arrested after a high-speed chase in northwest Missouri that crossed three county lines.

Sheriff Steve Cox with the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office said early Thursday afternoon the office was notified of a vehicle pursuit that began in Linn County when a Linn County Deputy tried to stop a driver who fled the deputy driving at high speeds and erratic.

Deputies assisted the Linn County Deputy as the chase entered Livingston County. Sheriff Cox said Chillicothe Police tried to use spike strips on the suspect vehicle near Chillicothe’s eastern City limits but the suspect avoided the spikes. However, an officer from another department did not.

Livingston County then took over the pursuit which continued west past Chillicothe on U.S. 36.

“Chief Deputy Claypole noted the suspect appeared alone in the vehicle but kept reaching way over in the passenger area as if attempting to retrieve a firearm or tossing items he did not want to be caught with,” Cox said. “There was also concern the vehicle was possibly stolen at the time of the attempted stop.”

He said suspect was unable to completely avoid the Missouri State Highway Patrol spike strip deployment on U.S. 36 in Caldwell County. However, he allegedly continued westbound until the tire(s) deflated. He was arrested in Caldwell County by the LCSO, MSHP, Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office, and a Chillicothe PD officer.

“Chief Deputy Claypole said the suspect commented he thought he had an arrest warrant in Independence and was planning to keep driving to Kansas City where pursuits are not allowed,” Cox said. “The suspect allegedly had a revoked license and several other problems in addition to a history of violence.”

The investigation continues.