Open burning dates for autumn 2018 have been approved by the Air Pollution Control Unit Chief of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

According to a press release from the City of St. Joseph Health Department, open burning will be permitted within the City of St. Joseph from Monday, November 5, through Sunday, November 25, under the following 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 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.

Any violation of the open burning restrictions may result in a summons to appear in court for a misdemeanor violation.

Residents are encouraged to explore alternatives to open burning. Many options for disposing of yard waste are easy, do not contribute to air pollution, are not dependent on time restrictions or the weather, and provide the healthy benefit of physical activity while doing yard work instead of breathing acrid smoke from a waste fire. Such activities include mowing leaves into fine particles and leaving them lay to fertilize the lawn, or incorporating leaves into a mulch container to decompose for use in vegetable and flower gardens or for use on lawns as a soil amendment. Larger wood brush that can be chipped makes excellent mulch around trees and shrubs. Family and friends with gardens may want additional yard waste to use as mulch.

Open burning session will not be extended due to weather blackout dates.

ATCHISON, Kan. – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating an officer involved shooting which occurred in Atchison on Wednesday, Oct. 31.

According to a KBI media release, the Atchison Police Department contacted the KBI at approximately 10:35 a.m. to request assistance investigating an officer involved shooting. KBI agents and the crime scene response team (CSRT) responded to conduct the investigation.

Preliminary information indicates that an officer from the Atchison Police Department was dispatched to a theft of services call at a residence at N. Fourth St. and L St. in Atchison. When the officer arrived on scene at approximately 10:20 a.m., a male subject on the property approached the officer while carrying a rifle. The officer gave verbal commands to drop the gun, and the subject complied by putting down the rifle.

Then, the verbal conflict with the resident escalated, and the officer deployed a Taser toward the subject. The subject produced a handgun he had in his possession, and fired at the officer. The officer was not hit by gunfire, and returned fire at the subject. The subject was struck during the exchange.

The subject was taken into custody, and EMS was called. He was transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The subject was later identified as Bryan C. Boldridge, 44, of Atchison.

The KBI will conduct a thorough and independent investigation into this shooting. Once the investigation is complete, the findings will be turned over to the Atchison County Attorney for review.

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ATCHISON, Kan. (AP) — An Atchison homeowner was wounded when he was involved in a gunfight with a police officer.

Atchison Police Chief Mike Wilson said the officer was not injured during the confrontation Wednesday.

Wilson says police responded to a call to help utility crews and a homeowner confronted the officer.

Wilson says the man shot at the officer, who returned fire. The man’s condition was not immediately available.

Details about what prompted the police call and the confrontation have not been released.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting.

MARYVILLE, Mo. – Dr. John Jasinski, president of Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, has been elected by his peers to serve as a member of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) Board of Directors.

AASCU is a Washington, D.C.-based higher education association of nearly 400 public colleges, universities and systems whose members share a learning and teaching-centered culture, a historic commitment to underserved student populations and a dedication to research and creativity that advances their regions’ economic progress and cultural development. In addition, the organization advocates for effective public policy at the federal level and provides both federal and state policy analysis to advance member institutions and the students they serve.

The Board of Directors, which consists of member presidents and chancellors who are actively engaged with the association, supports AASCU’s work and provides mission-based leadership and strategic governance. While day-to-day operations are led by AASCU’s president and chief executive officer, Board members provide broad leadership and oversight. Board members serve three-year terms and meet three times a year.

“AASCU institutions are engines of economic mobility and beacons of hope for our future – the workhorse of American higher education,” Jasinski said. “AASCU presidents and AASCU institutions work tirelessly to deliver America’s promise. Northwest Missouri State University is a proud AASCU member and it is an honor to be at the table as we address issues of state, national and international significance.”

Earlier this year, Jasinski also was elected to a one-year term as vice chair of the Council on Public Higher Education, which is composed of the presidents and chancellors of public higher education institutions in Missouri. He also accepted an appointment to the advisory team of the commissioner for the Missouri Department of Higher Education.

Jasinski is the 10th president of Northwest and has served the University since 2009.

– Northwest News Release –

A local librarian recently received an award that is the first of its kind in the state.

Jennifer Sanders-Tutt is the Local History Librarian with the St. Joseph Public Library. She was chosen as the first recipient of the Excellence in Genealogy and Local History Award and was presented with the award at the Missouri Library Association conference.

“It’s amazing… my co-worker said, ‘I’m going to nominate you,’ and I kind of put it in the back of my mind. I didn’t think I’d be the one to win it, especially in its first year,” Sanders-Tutt said. “I’m really excited about it. (It’s) very nice for our library and our community to be able to say that we’re the first ones to win this award in the whole state of Missouri.”

The Missouri Library Association’s Genealogy and Local History Committee of Interest sponsors the award. Sanders-Tutt said one of the things that stood out to the committee during the application process was her involvement with Founder’s Day and how she worked with the City of St. Joseph to recognize the date of July 26, 1843, as the official founding day of St. Joseph.

Sanders-Tutt said her position as local history librarian focuses on cultivating local history and helping the public with any local history research. She also has developed several programs and events including the monthly History Speaks program, genealogy programming and one of her favorites, the Oral History Project.

“That’s really rewarding to get to sit down with people from our community, especially some of our older community members that have a lot of history to share and listen to what their lives were like and what St. Joseph’s history was like,” Sanders-Tutt said. “One of my favorites, to this day, is my very first (interview) that I did and that was with a gentleman who was a World War II veteran. I think he was 97 at the time that I interviewed him and he had lived here all his life, he had gone to war, come back, raised a family and he was a fascinating individual.”

Sanders-Tutt said she hopes to continue expanding the Oral History Project to get more community involvement and possibly put together field kits for people to check out to record their own family histories.

For more information about local history and genealogy resources, contact the Downtown Library Reference Department at (816) 232-8151 or visit the St. Joseph Public Library’s website.

A prescription drug take back event held in St. Joseph on Saturday collected over a thousand pounds of unused or expired pills.

According to the St. Joseph Youth Alliance, that marks a new record for the take back event, which has been held in the spring and fall for about seven years in St. Joseph.

This year, 466 cars went through the drop off location in the East Hills Mall parking lot. Collected were 1,073 pounds of prescription pills, 115 pounds of needles, 68.5 pounds of prescription bottles and 23.5 pounds of inhalers.

The event, which gives residents the opportunity to safely dispose of unused or expired medications, is sponsored by the St. Joseph Youth Alliance, the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Department, the St. Joseph Police Department and American Water.