A pastor in Platte City is charged with trespassing and attempted invasion of privacy for allegedly trying to watch a woman in her bathroom as she took a shower.

According to court documents, a witness spotted Kelvin B. Lambert, 39, as he peaked into the woman’s bathroom window from a plastic lawn chair outside. The witness said the suspect fled after being seen by the witness, who later identified Lambert.

The victim says Lambert did not have permission to be on her property. Lambert is the pastor at the Second Baptist Church in Platte City.

A judge set bond at $2,500, cash only.

Sedalia, MO –The second annual Show-Me Bluegrass Festival returns to the Missouri State Fair this Wednesday, featuring more than 10 bluegrass bands, sponsored by AgriMissouri. A $2 gate admission discount will be offered this day to adults with a Sedalia Democrat newspaper front page Fair banner.

“The Show-Me Bluegrass Festival brings a unique atmosphere to the fairgrounds,” said Missouri State Fair Director Mark Wolfe. “Featured bands will include River Berry on the Touchstone Energy stage as well as fiddling on the grandstand with The Quebe Sisters Band.

“River Berry is comprised of three siblings, two sisters and one brother, who have performed on stages at Silver Dollar City,” said Wolfe. “The band features traditional bluegrass instruments such as the banjo and standing bass.”

Other bands in the Festival include Misty Mountain, Whetstone, Charlie and the Girls, Beverly’s Hillbillies and Bluegrass Missourians. Schedules will be available at the Fair’s information booths.

Amateur musicians are also encouraged to showcase their talents. A 4 O’Clock Jam Session will be held in the Show-Me Tent for anyone bringing an instrument, followed by a Banjo Contest at 6 p.m. on the Touchstone Energy Stage. The sign-up for this contest will begin at 5:45 p.m. at the Touchstone Energy Tent.

Bluegrass music will continue into the evening as bluegrass favorites, The Quebe Sisters Band, perform in the Country Gold concert, which starts at 7:30 p.m. on the Pepsi Grandstand.

“The three sisters, known for their three-part harmony singing and Texas-style fiddling,” said Wolfe, “will have fairgoers tapping their foot to their traditional style of music.”

Tickets for the concert are $20 and $10 and can be purchased from the Missouri State Fair Box Office, open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

Special activities for seniors will also be held Wednesday, including dancing and bingo. The dancing will feature more than 225 entertainers from across Missouri showcasing their square, line and clog dancing skills from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Lowell Mohler Assembly Hall.

Seniors can also enter the Senior Waltz Contest starting at 1 p.m. in the Mathewson Exhibition Center. Cash awards will be presented to three places in waltz, polka, jitterbug and line dance categories.

Sedalia, MO – Governor Jay Nixon and First Lady Georganne Nixon will be guests of honor at the 60th annual Governor’s Ham Breakfast to be held Thursday on the Missouri State Fairgrounds. The breakfast will celebrate Missouri agriculture, while raising funds for the Missouri State Fair Foundation, the host of the event.

“The Governor’s Ham Breakfast is a long-standing tradition where guests come together to celebrate the excellence of our Missouri agriculture,” said Missouri State Fair Director Mark Wolfe. “This breakfast, in particular, showcases the best of Missouri pork.”

Governor Nixon will be the keynote speaker at the breakfast, which starts at 8 a.m. in the Director’s Tent located on the east side of the fairgrounds. Tickets are $20 and include general admission to the Fair on Aug. 16. Tickets can be purchased at the Missouri State Fair Box Office through Wednesday. Box Office hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Tickets will also be available for purchase at the breakfast, while supplies last.

The Governor’s Ham Breakfast will also include an auction of the Grand Champion Ham, Reserve Grand Champion Ham, Grand Champion Bacon and a commemorative belt buckle. Proceeds from both the breakfast and auction will be used to perpetuate projects at the Missouri State Fair, including scholarships for youth involved in scholarships.

Missouri firefighters will also be celebrated at the Fair Thursday with free gate admission and a vintage fire equipment parade at 1 p.m. Gate admission for the general public on Thursday is half-price and Fair visitors can enjoy many half-price concession and vendor specials.

 

How should you respond if a someone starts shooting at your office, church, or event?  A controversial video produced by the City of Houston gives tips on how to run, hide, or fight if an attack occurs.  You can see the six-minute video here.

Shatto Milk Company in Osborn is back in business after a one-week shutdown and voluntary recall  triggered by a batch of milk that was not completely pasteurized.

The State Milk Board reinstated Shatto’s plant permit Tuesday after inspectors found that test results met the standards for Grade A pasteurized milk.  All the company’s equipment was found to be in good working order.

St Joseph School District officials are crowing about their latest assessments by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The Annual Performance Report was released to the public Wednesday.

Superintendent Dr. Melody Smith told reporters the Annual Performance Review (APR) is the tool that says what the district is doing toward continuous improvement.

Smith says their their focus has been and remains on continuous school improvement.

“Continuous school improvement is a journey,” Smith said. “It’s laborious, it’s challenging, it’s fulfilling.”

The district was rated in six student-achievement categories, as well as attendance, graduation rate, ACT scores, participation and placement in career and advanced courses, as well as career and college placement.

In areas of academic achievement, the district failed in two areas to meet the standard of students reaching “advanced” or “proficient” status. Those areas are 3rd through 5th grade Communication Arts and the status and progress of students in so-called “sub-groups,” which include minorities and students in poverty. But the state gave extra points for showing progress in closing the achievement gap in the sub-groups, and for showing improvement in five of the six academic areas.

Thus, we achieved a perfect score of 14 out of 14 evaluation standards.

“I am pleased with the district’s report card, ” said Smith.  “The hard work of our staff, our professional development and the leadership of our building principals is showing results.”

According to sumaries and analyses released by the district, students in St Joseph met the standards in the non-academic areas as well:

*31% of students here scored higher than the national average on the ACT test.

*40.6% of SJSD students earned credits in advanced courses, the highest number since 2008.

*27.5% of credits earned by 11th and 12th graders came from careet education courses, an increase of 2.3% from last year.

*The number of students in the district entering college dropped 5.4%, but the district still met the state’s standards. School district officials blame the drop on the economy. Despite that, about 60% of students here entered college.

*Despite a 10.3% drop in the number of students who completed a career education program and were then placed in that field, the district met state standards. 79% of SJSD students made the grade in this area, despite competing for those jobs with other displaced workers in a down economy.

*The attendance rate for SJSD students in grades K-12 was 93.5%. District officials say that number is up about .3%.

*Attendance rates in St Joseph have been fairly steady over the last five years.

*The district’s graduation rate has also been steady. Last year the graduation rate was 88.3%. The graduation rate here has fluctuated between 87% and 89% for the last five years.

Because the federal government gave the State of Missouri a waiver under the No Child Left Behind law, federal funding for the state and the district were not at risk this year.

Detainees at the Livingston County Jail are being held under “lock down” conditions after what’s being called either an escape attempt or a practice run.

Sheriff Steve Cox tells us that on Sunday, as his detention officer was about to lock down the male detainees in one cell block, a male inmate “bolted out of the cell area and ran down the hallway.”

 

Cox says the locked security doors prevented that man from exiting the jail portion of the building.

On July 4, two men escaped from confinement of the jail, and Cox says his information points toward the two inmates having made a practice attempt prior to the escape. In a news release, Cox said the inmates may have been testing a new detention officer.

“For the safety and security of our citizens, community, staff and detainees,” Cox said, “we have viewed this as an attempted escape or practice run to test a relatively new detehntion officer to actually escape from confinement.”

“Therefore, we are taking no chances and raised the facility to maximum security at least pending further investigation.”

The sheriff has ordered the entire jail be on maximum security lock down. That means detainees have 23 hours a day of lock down in their individual pods and one hour of scheduled recreation in the cell block day room each day.

Cox says the move affects all detainees, so they continue to follow the constitution and treat all detainees equally.

He says an investigation report and video evidence are being completed and the report will be submitted to Livingston County Prosecuting Attorney for consideration of possible charges against the suspect.

Authorities now say the pilot of an ultra-light aircraft that crashed south of St Joseph Monday night has died.

Sergeant Sheldon Lyon of the Missouri State Highway Patrol tells us Craig Combs, 55, of St Joseph passed away at Heartland Regional Medical Center where he was taken for treatment after the accident.

The crash happened at a private airfield near Dekalb, Missouri of Route-JJ.

Lyon says the FAA has been notified and will take over the investigation into the crash.

“It looks like this tree was in close proximity to the runway, and I don’t know if a breeze pushed him over there or what, but he was about one hundred feet off the ground when he came into contact with that tree, so the aircraft fell a good distance to the ground,” Lyon said.