Tickets are now on sale for Family Fun Day at the 2011 Kansas City Chiefs Training Camp presented by Heartland Health.

Family Fun Day presented by American Family Insurance will be held Saturday, Aug. 6 inside Spratt Memorial Stadium on the campus of Missouri Western State University.

Gates will open at 11:30 a.m. An autograph session with the entire team will begin at 1:10 p.m., with practice starting at 1:30 p.m.

Tickets are $12, and all campus parking will be free on Family Fun Day. Children 3 and under will be admitted free. Advance ticket sales are available only at the customer service counter at the St. Joseph Hy-Vee, in person or by phone at (816) 232-9750.

Phone orders must be picked up at the St. Joseph Hy-Vee prior to the event. Tickets will also be available at Spratt Stadium the day of the event, beginning at 11 a.m.

For the latest information about the training camp schedule, check the Chiefs’ web site.

The 95th annual Hurlingen Picnic sold hundreds of fried chicken and ham dinners to raise funds for the Seven Dolors Catholic Church.  Cooled by a breeze on the shaded church grounds, participants enjoyed a Saturday evening of good food, live musical entertainment, games, and visiting.

Tax extension opponent Ken Reeder says he would not oppose the issue on the ballot Tuesday if it still had a sunset clause.

The Buchanan County Commissioners say voters can best control how the money is spent by electing the right people to serve.

Reeder says that’s not enough control. Reeder says he has yet to hear a good reason for dropping the sunset clause. Presiding Commissioner RT Turner says the country won’t be able to borrow money for levee improvements without a constant revenue stream to make payments.

Voters will decide Tuesday whether to continue the quarter-cent capital improvements sales tax.

(AP)The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to significantly reduce the amount of water being released into the Missouri River in late August and September.

Brig. Gen. John McMahon outlined the plan for bringing an end to flooding along the river.

The corps has been releasing massive amounts of water from the six dams along the river to deal with heavy spring rains and above-average mountain snowpack.

The corps says the biggest reductions in water releases from Gavins Point dam won’t begin until mid-August. But their goal is to cut the releases from the current 160,000 cubic feet per second to 40,000 by Oct. 1.

McMahon says the water flow will be reduced gradually to reduce the risk of damage to levees along the river.

 

 

Officials now say they cannot determine the cause or even the point of origin of a fire Wednesday morning that destroyed a home in East St Joseph.

The fire, reported around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, burned the house at 4217 Oakland Circle to the ground.

A fire investigation report lists the cause of the fire as “undetermined after investigation.”   The insurance company could continue the investigation.  The report also lists the point of origin of the fire as “undetermined.”

Firefighters spent more than four hours putting out the fire, and inspectors were on the scene most of the day Wednesday.

The owner says the tenants were renting to buy.  They left on Tuesday on vacation.

The St Joseph Fire Department says at least two vehicles and one boat were destroyed, along with the multi-level house, where the owner had just completed a new addition.

Dan Nicoson, the Vice President for Advancement and Foundation Executive Director for Missouri Western will retire next summer.  Northwest Missouri State University’s business college dean Tom Billesbach retires Friday.

Nicoson will retire June 30 of next year from Western.  He made the announcement at a Foundation board meeting Wednesday.  Nicoson has been with the university since 2004.  He is also serving as the interim Athletics Director.  The university plans to fill that position by January of next year.  A national search for a replacement of Nicoson will begin this fall.

Billesbach retire’s from Northwest Friday after being with the university since 1994.  He served as the

Booth College of Business and Professional Studies Dean.  Greg Haddick, Vice Provost and graduate school dean, will serve as the acting dean of the Booth college.

 

 

 

 

 

Craig Travers is the General Manager and Midwest Vice President for Affinity Gaming, the new company that came out of bankruptcy and now owns St Joe Frontier Casino.

Travers is a proven commodity in casino disaster management, having managed a St Louis riverboat gambling house during the 1993, 1994 and 1995 floods there.

He told reporters water actually flooded the gambling house twice.

Travers says Missouri River flooding has caused between three and four million dollars damage. The casino is losing about $45,000 each day it is closed. The company continues to pay most of its employees. Many of them are working with the private contractor managing the cleanup, repairs and renovations at the casino.

The total insurance tab is expected to rise to near $11 million.

They hope to reopen the casino by October 1.

The casino is still surrounded by water. The team is busy building a road through the floodwaters to allow them to haul away between 20 and 25 tons of debris.

One lucky fellow landed what some would consider the best job of the bunch in the hundred degree heat: wading into the floodwater, often chest deep, to give directions to drivers as they backed up their huge dump trucks into the water to dump the paving material.

Travers invited the media on a tour of the casino was the recovery continued. He was asked about that guy in the water and that $11 million figure.

Officials with the St Joe Frontier Casino say that barring another significant rain event, or other rise in the Missouri River, they hope to reopen the gambling house by October 1st.

General Manager Craig Travers says that between revenue losses, ongoing employee salaries, repairs and reconstruction, their insurance carriers will pay out up to eleven million dollars.   They’re losing about $45,000 each day the casino remains closed.

They have removed between 20 and 25 tons of debris, which sits in a pile outside the facility until a road can be constructed to haul it off the site.  That road could be finished by the end of the week, Travers said.

In the meantime, access to the facility is only available by boat.

Travers led the local media on a tour of the facility Wednesday.

Private First Class Jordan House died in an accident at I-435 and northeast 108^th Street Monday afternoon.

He was working state emergency duty since June 26^th on the Quick Reaction Force in Northwest Missouri.

He was allowed to head home from Maryville Monday. House helped with sandbagging including protecting the Forest City water plant and later worked security checkpoints.

House joined the National Guard in May of last year.

Though his service with the National Guard was brief, House earned the Army Service Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Missouri Basic Training Service Ribbon and the Missouri State Emergency Duty Ribbon.

 

 

 

27 area Post Office’s could close pending the outcome of Postal Service study.

The study was announced this week. They are looking at roughly 3,700 post offices that may close.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe in May said the future of the Post Office will be smaller, yet with more access.  That may include putting  up automated Post Office Stations.

The so-called “Village Post Office” may replace the current offices. That’s a Post Office operated by a local business, rather than the Postal Service.

Other replacements include the USPS website, ATM’s and office supply stores.

Andrew County       Buchanan County     Daviess County
  Cosby                      Dekalb                       Coffey
  Fillmore                                                     Jameson
  Helena
  Rea
  Rosendale

Dekalb County       Gentry County           Harrison County
  Amity                      Denver                       Blythdale
                                Gentry                        Matinsville
                                McFall

Livingston County  Nodaway County      Worth County
  Utica                       Clearmont                  Allendale
                                 Clyde                        Worth
                                 Graham
                                 Guilford
                                 Parnell
                                 Pickering

Kansas City
  Center Square
  Civic Center
  Hickman Hills