Preparations have started for what has become an annual holiday event: drawing a $10,000 winner in the Shop Saint Joseph program.

Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Ted Allison says it’s designed to stop “retail leakage,” shoppers taking their business to Kansas City. He says it gives shoppers an incentive to buy locally. The incentive is the chance to win $10,000 with one of the tickets given by participating merchants for shopping in their stores.

Allison says participation in Shop Saint Joseph grew since its start in 2007, then flattened last year. He expects participation to increase again this year as the recovery picks up steam.  

Area law enforcement checked a total of 652 cars at a DUI checkpoint in St Joseph Saturday.  Officers from the St Joseph Police Department, deputies from the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office, and troopers from the Missouri State Highway Patrol monitored traffic at 6th and Atchison from about 10 p.m. until 1:30 the following morning.

Officials say there were a total of 18 arrests, including five for DWI.  Seven people were placed on immigration hold for being in the country illegally, including one fugitive who had previously been deported.  Officers issued 29 tickets for other violations.

Out of 30 officers involved, 21 were from the St Joseph Police Department. Their overtime was paid by a state grant.

Missouri Western will use $470,000 in grants from the National Science Foundation to research and teach synthetic biology.Dr. Todd Eckdahl, professor and chair of biology, says the grants are largely the result of work students have done conducting and presenting research.

A $200,000 grant will support research at Western the next two years. A $270,000 grant will pay for workshops to train faculty from across the country to conduct synthetic biology research.  

A St Joe teenager will served the better part of three decades in prison for killing his friend during a botched robbery in April.

Nineteen-year-old Victor Davis was ordred to serve consecutive sentences of five years for involuntary manslaughter and 25 years for armed-criminal action.

Davis pleaded guilty to the charges, which stemmed from the death of 17-year-old Aitmus Rimmer during a robbery attempt April 28.

Davis’ father, Victor Wallace, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery for his part in the shooting and will be sentenced later this month.

 

The Police Department wants to know what Saint Joseph residents think about crime, safety, and law enforcement. Police Chief Chris Connally says thousands of residents should have received a community survey over the weekend.

Connally says police are often call-driven, but officers also have some time to be proactive. Connally wants that proactive time to be spent on what the citizens think is important.

Surveys were sent in roughly equal numbers to homes in all five city council districts. Connally urges recipients to fill them out and send them in.

A little bit of magic happens about two weeks before opening night of any theater production.  It requires a lot of work from a lot of people, and of course a lot of supervision.In our case, tech week will see the metamorphosis of the Potter Hall Theater from a bare stage to a wild combination of a balcony, a town square, a bedroom, a friar’s cell, a party room, an apothecary shop, a cemetery and a tomb.  And, if imagination allows, a plywood hot tub.

These photographs were taken during the very early stages of set construction.

For earlier installments of my actor’s journal, click here.

Last Friday, members of the local media were invited to lend a hand at the Second Harvest Community Food Bank, in an event called “Behind the Boxes.”  John P Tretbar took part, handing out cantaloupes, watermelons, pumpkins and pineapples to many of the 176 clients at the food bank.  Officials tell us that they also offer food to hungry families on Tuesdays, when they typically serve about 215 families each week.  You can donate to Second Harvest via their web site, here.

Over the weekend, a dozen bluegrass bands performed at Coleman Hawkins Park to raise money and food for Second Harvest.  In this video, the Willow Creek Bluegrass Band perform “Frog Went ‘a Courtin’,” the Scottish nursery rhyme performed by Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Bender (on “Futurama”) and Bobby Hill (on “King of the Hill”).

A 25-year-old Plattsburg man is being held under $20,000 bond in Clinton County, where officials charged him with the death of his girlfriend’s infant child.  Authorities filed charges of Endangering the Welfare of a Child (first degree) against Robby R. Mitchell Jr.  Mitchell appeared in a Clinton County courtroom Friday morning.  Mitchell told investigators he found the child in her crib September 22nd.  He says she was not breathing.

According to an autopsy report, the baby sustained injuries that are consistent with being forcibly shaken.  Mitchell told investigators he saw another child in the home jumping on the baby’s chest.  Court documents indicate the victim had head and facial bruises but no chest injuries.

Mitchell’s next court appearance is scheduled Friday.

 

Northwest Missouri Congressman Sam Graves wants to clarify the mission of the Corps of Engineers to reduce the chances of a repeat of this year’s flooding. Graves has introduced legislation that makes flood protection the top priority.

Graves says the corps spent 53-million dollars on wildlife rehabilitation along the Missouri River last year, while there was only six-million dollars available for levee maintenance.

Today is the deadline to apply for disaster unemployment assistance because of flooding in Northwest Missouri.

It’s for residents whose employment was lost or interrupted as a result of flooding from June 1^st through August 1^st.

Counties covered include Andrew, Atchison, Buchanan, Holt, Lafayette, and Platte.