The new interim superintendent for the St Joseph School District officially starts work on Monday.

Dr. Robert Newhart is offering short interviews with media outlets Monday on the subject of his first day on the job.

On Wednesday the public gets a chance to meet Dr. Newhart.

The public is invited to a welcome reception on Wednesday July 8, from 4 to 5:30pm.  The reception will be held at the Troester Media Center at 3401 Renick in St Joseph.

Dr. Newhart is the third superintendent for the district so far this year. He was named to the interim post to fill in for Dr. Jake Long after he was named superintendent of schools in the Mountain Home, Arkansas School District. Long assumed the job of acting superintendent in St Joseph when Dr. Fred Czerwonka resigned. Czerwonka came under fire after the state auditor’s office released a report that was critical of the school district.

Hundreds of people are planning to walk in St. Joseph Saturday with the mission to try to find a cure for Cancer.

The American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life will take place Saturday, July 11 at the Civic Arena.

“We do a 12-hour event to kind of symbolize a cancer patient’s walk with the different things they go through with their treatments,” said Trey Drowns, event coordinator. “So each team will have someone on their team walking the entire 12 hours.”

Drowns said as of Thursday afternoon there were 27 teams signed up to take part in the event.  He said teams ranged from one or two people to a team upwards of 60 people on a team.

“Relay for Life is the largest fundraising event for the American Cancer Society,” Drowns said. “30 years ago it started as just one person walking around a track himself just wanting to raise awareness for cancer research and it kind of just caught on.”

This year’s fundraising goal is $32,000 for cancer research. Drowns said Thursday $21,500 had already been raised.

Donations are being accepted at the day of the relay, or online.

“Each team will have some type of game or activity or food or something like that to sell at relay so we can raise more funds that day,” he said.

Music, activities and food will also be on hand.

“We’d love for the community to come out and support the American Cancer Society,” Drowns said.

Drowns said a free breakfast will be held at 8:30 that morning for cancer survivor’s and their caregivers.

 

For more information check out www.relayforlife.org or contract Drowns at rflstjoe@yahoo.com or (816)-294-0390.

(UPDATE 7 p.m.) – Authorities have identified a man and woman killed early Saturday morning in Buchanan County.

According to Buchanan County Undersheriff Bill Puett law enforcement officials responded to 8610 NE Hurlingen Road around 1:05 a.m. for a check well-being.

After getting no answer at the residence they continued to investigate and found a man and a woman dead outside of their home.

Authorities have now identified the victims as 72-year-old James Johnson and 76-year-old Beverly Johnson. The cause of death was ruled both from gunshot wounds.

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with their deaths.

Puett said investigators have been out all night working the case.

The case has been referred to the Buchanan County Juvenile Office authorities said any other information regarding charges or the status of the investigation will be released from the Juvenile Office.

Here’s a look at firework displays we’ve heard about going on around the area!  Have a safe and happy 4th from the staff at the St. Joseph Post.

St. Joe, Mo. – The City of St. Joseph fireworks display is estimated to be between 9:30 and 9:45 p.m.
The best viewing locations are the Heritage Park softball complex, the St. Jo Frontier Casino or the Remington Nature Center. The public may enter Heritage Park at 6 p.m. The softball complex will offer bleacher and lawn seating throughout the night, and the restrooms and concession stands will be open. Offering its full menu, of soda, sandwiches, nachos and other items.http://www.stjoemo.info/DocumentCenter/View/3118

The St. Joseph Mustangs will host a fireworks display at Phil Welch Stadium after both Fridayand Saturday night games

Mozingo Lake in Maryville, Mo. – This year’s show at Mozingo will feature $10,000 worth of fireworks and is set to begin shortly after dusk.

Cameron, Mo. – Cameron’s citywide celebration includes a four-mile run, a Rotary Club breakfast, a baby show, a prince and princess contest, a parade, a free swim at the Cameron Municipal Pool, a concert by the Cameron City Band and a fireworks display to close at 10 p.m. Find more info at www.cameronmochamber.com.

Smithville, Mo. – Watch fireworks light up the sky starting at dusk. The location for best viewing is Smith’s Fork Park at 1601 County Road DD

Highland, Kan. – Activities start at 10 a.m. with a parade starting at the High School and continuing west on Main Street.  Activities continue throughout the day with an evening ending with an Ice Cream Social at 8 p.m. at the HCC Stadium Center and fireworks at dusk.

Troy, Kan. – Activities start at 7 a.m. with breakfast served at the 4-H grounds.  A 5K run/walk will take place at 8 a.m. followed by activities throughout the day including a fishing derby from 10 a.m. to noon.  The Troy Parade starts at 4 p.m. and will travel down main street.  At 5 p.m. a cookout will begin at the 4-h grounds, Ice Cream social at 6:30 p.m. and fireworks at dusk at the 4-H grounds.

Robinson, Kan. – 4th of July fun will start with a pancake feed 7 am – 1 pm. Followed by a parade at 4 pm and the ice cream social at 5:30 pm. Then a fireworks display at dark (Free will donation for the ice cream social and fireworks display).https://www.facebook.com/robinsonfiredept

Atchison, Kan. – Fireworks display scheduled at Warnock Lake

 

Enforcement is already underway by area troopers for the Independence Day holiday.

Troop H announced last month it is once again taking part in operation C.A.R.E. during the 2015 July Fourth holiday weekend. Operation C.A.R.E. (Combined Accident Reduction Effort) is a national traffic enforcement program aimed at making holiday weekends safer. During this enforcement operation, all available troopers will be patrolling Missouri highways aggressively enforcing traffic laws and assisting motorist with any emergency situations.

In addition to Operation C.A.R.E., Troop H officers will participate in a 20-Mile Trooper enforcement operation which began on Thursday, July 2, 2015 and runs through Sunday, July 5, 2015. During this operation, which will be conducted on Interstate 35 throughout the Troop H area, troopers will be assigned 20-mile sections of Interstate 35 to provide additional manpower during the peak travel days of the holiday period.

“Many motorists will be traveling over the holiday weekend, and we want everyone traveling on Missouri roadways to be safe,” said Captain James E. McDonald, commanding officer of Troop H. “Make sure everyone in your vehicle is properly restrained and never drink and drive.”

The St. Joseph Police Department took two people into custody Friday morning after an almost four hour long standoff.

According to Commander Eric Protzman officers attempted to serve a felony warrant on 29-year-old Timothy Ellsworth Friday around 6:30 a.m. at his home in the 200 block of West Valley Street.

Ellsworth allegedly refused to cooperate with police and barricaded himself in the residence.

The Special Response Team was then called in to assist.

Protzman said Ellsworth had crawled into the space under the floor so pepper spray had to be used to force him out.

Ellsworth was apprehended and arrested on felony warrants and a 26-year-old St. Joseph woman was taken into custody for investigation of hindering prosecution.

No shot were fired. However, Ellsworth had a laceration to his head Protzman said he sustained when he forced his way into the crawl space.

Because police had to use pepperspray both individuals were transported to Mosaic Life Care for evaluation.

Authorities cleared the scene just after 10 a.m.

 

The Remington Nature Center gift shop is filling its shelves with “made in America” products.

Barbara Russell, Administrative Technician wrote in St. Joseph’s City Weekly that when the nature center first opened seven years ago her main concern was to fill the gift store with nature-themed products for its grand opening.  However, she said as time passed she’s found that customers often requested items “made in America”.  So she said she began looking for items with nature-themes at a reasonable price point that were just that.

“Through the years, I have found several reputable vendors with nature-themed merchandise,” she writes. “However, the price points are always considerably higher than my foreign-made inventory.  The quality, however, is infinitely better.”

She said she’s found that guests are willing to pay a little more for better made products, especially if they’re American-made.

“If 300,000,000 American each simply reallocated one dollar per day, spending one dollar less on foreign-made goods and one dollar more on American-made goods, this would add up to $109,500,000,000 after one year,” Russell said. “What could the real, productive American economy do with an extra $109.5 billion?”

Click Here to read this week’s City Weekly.

The St. Joseph Police Department announced Thursday that a sobriety checkpoint will be held in the city sometime this month.

St. Joseph Police along with the Northwest Missouri DWI Task Force plan to team up to conduct the sobriety checkpoint in St. Joseph during the month of July.

Police are asking motorists to cooperate if they find themselves passing through a checkpoint.

“Our goal is to take impaired drivers off the roads making them safer. If you find yourself in a checkpoint please pay extra attention to the posted signs and the officer working to make your community safer,” the department said in a news release.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration drunk driving kills more than 10,000 people every year. On average in 2012, one person was killed every 51 minutes in alcohol impaired driving crashes.

The St. Joseph Police Department is investigating an early morning assault that took place in the North Belt Walmart parking lot.

According to Capt. Jeff Wilson officers responded around 3:42 a.m. to find an 45-year-old man with minor injuries.

Wilson said the man was going to sleep in his car when he said he was approached by a couple of white males and assaulted.

The man sustained only minor injuries and refused medical treatment.

Wilson said no weapons were reported.

Police are investigating but have not released descriptions of the subjects.

Anyone with information in connection with the incident is asked to contact the TIPS Hotline at (816) 238-TIPS.

 

JEFFERSON CITY— The Missouri Public Service Commission voted 3 to 2 Wednesday to deny a request from a power line project that would pass through part of Missouri including Buchanan County.

The PSC denied a request filed by Grain Belt Express Clean Line LLC (GBE) for a certificate of convenience and necessity to construct, own, operate and maintain a high voltage, direct current transmission line and associated facilities within Buchanan, Clinton, Caldwell, Carroll, Chariton, Randolph, Monroe and Ralls counties in Missouri as well as an associated converter station in Ralls County.

According to the application, approximately 206 miles of the transmission line will traverse the state of Missouri from Kansas into Illinois and Indiana (Project).

“After applying the facts to the law to reach its conclusions, the Commission concludes that the substantial and competent evidence in the record supports the conclusion that GBE has failed to meet, by a preponderance of the evidence, its burden of proof to demonstrate that the Project as described in its application for a certificate of convenience and necessity is necessary or convenient for the public service,” said the Commission.

The Commission stated the five criteria that it will use to determine whether to grant a certificate of convenience and necessity to GBE are: 1) There must be a need for the service; 2) The applicant must be qualified to provide the proposed service; 3) The applicant must have the financial ability to provide the service; 4) The applicant’s proposal must be economically feasible; and 5) The service must promote the public interest.

The Commission stated in its decision that GBE met its burden of proof that it is qualified and has the financial ability to provide the service. However, the Commission concluded GBE failed to prove a need for the project, that it was economically feasible and that it promotes the public interest.

The Commission determined GBE failed to prove the Project promotes the public interest. “In this case the evidence shows that any actual benefits to the general public from the Project are outweighed by the burdens on affected landowners. The Commission concludes that GBE has failed to meet its burden of proof to demonstrate that the Project as described in its application for a certificate of convenience and necessity promotes the public interest.”

Commissioners Stephen Stoll, William Kenney and Scott Rupp voted for the order. Chairman Robert Kenney and Commissioner Daniel Hall dissented.