JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri conservation officials say this past year was a good one for archers hunting both deer and turkey.

The Missouri Department of Conservation say hunters killed more than 52,600 deer during the four-month archery season that ended
Jan.15.

That’s an increase of about 24% from 2010.

Hunters also killed nearly 3,000 turkeys, up about 34 percent from the previous turkey bow-hunting season. The department says the increase resulted from a good hatch before the season and a record number of archery permits being issued last year.

Eastern Missouri’s Franklin and Jefferson counties posted among the highest numbers for both turkey and deer killed. Conservation officials say those counties posted such high numbers because they are within driving distance of many hunters.

The Regional Director of the Small Business and Technology Development Center says the center is underutilized. Rebecca Evans is trying to get the word out that the center in Saint Joseph is here to help entrepreneurs.

The center offers a multitude of services beginning with business plan assistance for startups and existing businesses. Evans says it also offers market research at no charge, which is rare for most small business owners. It is a pre-paid confidential consultation service that helps owners develop successful business techniques.

The Small Business and Technology Development Center is located in the Saint Joseph Metro Chamber of Commerce building, 3003 Frederick Avenue. For more information call Rebecca Evans at 816.364.4105.  

Cleanup is underway after a house fire Thursday morning in a historic section of St Joseph. Nearly two dozen firefighters responded to the call at 2201 Lovers Lane at about 10:45 a.m.

St Joseph Fire Department Inspector Rob Blizzard says the fire was confined to one end of a third-story attic, but there is some damage to the second floor caused by the firefighting efforts.

Blizzard suspects an electrical problem as the cause of the fire, and estimates damage will exceed $30,000. There were no injuries.

A plaque near the front door of the house reads:
“The Reverend Alonzo Thomas Home — 1909”

Eight units from the St Joe Fire Department responded. Officials closed portions of Lovers Lane, Manchester and 22nd Streets to accommodate firefighting vehicles and heavy hose lines in the street.

 

The Missouri Western State University music department is basking in some national recognition. Western students took second place in the National Opera Association Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition.

Director of vocal studies Dr. Susan Carter learned about the competition last fall. At the last minute she sent in video from Western’s production of a short opera called The Telephone. Baritone Kyle Minx, a senior from Grain Valley, performed the scene with soprano Adrienne Collins, a sophomore from Saint Joseph. Western was invited to Memphis to compete as one of five finalists.

With Kyle and Adrienne singing, sophomore music major Donovan Jones of Tarkio collaborating on the piano, and Susan serving as stage and music director, Western placed ahead of some big schools with big music departments, among them Stanford University. Susan and students in her opera workshop this spring are already looking for scenes to enter in next year’s competition. 

A Missouri father and son were sentenced in federal court for illegally destroying two bald eagle nests on their farm property in Ray County.

Ronald L. Gibson, 70, and Todd A. Gibson, 49, of Norborne were each sentenced to two years of probation and fined $5,000 by U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert E. Larsen.

The court also ordered 100 hours of community service with the Big Muddy National Wildlife Refuge in Columbia, MO.

The nests sat in cottonwood trees on farm property owned by the pair. Officials say the larger nest had been on the property for at least a decade and was bigger than the bed of a pick-up truck.

The nest drew people to the intersection of J Highway and Missouri River Road every spring to watch the mating pair and their offspring.

Another father and son, Teddy Gardner of Breckenridge, Mo., and Michael Gardner of Pattonsburg, will be sentenced January 31 on similar charges. The Gibsons contracted with Joe Gardner Logging and Sawmill Co. to remove timber from the farm, including the large cottonwood trees that contained one of the nests. The Gardners pleaded guilty in late September.

In his guilty plea, Ronald Gibson admitted that he knew the bald eagle nest was in the tree when it was cut down and the nest destroyed. Prosecutors say Michael Gardner operated the saw that cut down the tree containing the nest.

Todd Gibson admitted that he asked the Gardners to return to the farm property in April 2010 to complete the logging so the property could be farmed. At that time, Todd Gibson directed them to cut down another tree that contained a bald eagle nest.

A 27-year-old Plattsburg man is dead, his mother is in the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head, and his father is in jail in Clinton County charged with Murder, Assault, and Armed Criminal Action.

All that from a single gunshot.

The shooting allegedly sprung from a family argument at the family’s home at 1571 NW 296th Street near Plattsburg Tuesday night.

Clinton County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Burris on Wednesday filed charges against Richard Dale Vardy.

According to court documents, Vardy got into a fight with his adult son. Officials believe a single shot from a .357-magnum hit Vardy’s wife Mary Elizabeth Vardy in the head and then struck his son Richard Jason Vardy in the chest.

Mrs Vardy, 52, is being treated in the intensive care unit at Liberty Hospital. Richard Jason Vardy, 27, was killed.

Burris is hoping a judge will arraign the suspect on Thursday.

A man is in custody involving the death of a St Joseph woman.

Broward County, Florida law enforcement officials confirmed today 49 year old Kent Harris is in their custody on an out-of-state hold for Involuntary Manslaughter.

Prosecutors charged Harris in a warrant on Tuesday. Officials believe Harris pushed Kecia King out of his moving truck.

An autopsy determined King died from head trauma and swelling of the brain.

King was found badly injured at about 11:15 p.m. Saturday along I-29 just south of the Pickett Road overpass. She died Sunday.

Harris is from Greenville, Mississippi and works for Best Mark Trucking in Strong City, Kansas. A judge in St Joseph has set bond at $100,000.

 

Missouri Farmers Care questions animal-rights extremists’ involvement in Your Vote Counts Committee.  Town Hall Thursday night, January 26^th in St Joseph

(JEFFERSON CITY, MO) With the release of their fourth quarter fundraising report, the Your Vote Counts Committee disclosed that the vast majority of their funding comes from extremist animal-rights groups and donors from outside of Missouri.

“Your Vote Counts should be called ‘Their Money Talks,’” Missouri Farmers Care Chairman Don Nikodim said. “Contrary to their rhetoric, this initiative petition isn’t about giving a voice to Missouri voters, it’s about giving more power to out-of-state special interests like HSUS and ASPCA. These animal-rights extremists are just trying to make it easier to advance their anti-hunting and anti-agriculture agenda.”

Due to increasing demand, MO Farmers Care will be hosting two or more town halls.. Our next town hall will be with Sen. Rob Schaaf on January 26 at the Kempker Recital Hall within Spratt Hall on Missouri Western State University Campus at 7:00 PM. If you would like to help spread the word.