Water main break in Rich Hill

We've received word of a broken water main causing water to spill onto the street near the Youth Development Center on north 14th street in Rich Hill. Use caution if traveling in the area and be on the lookout for workers on the scene.

Watershed festival a splashing success...

The first ever Watershed Festival was held at the Butler City park today and provided not only a message about the importance of water conservation, but a few laughs and a little magic as well. Steve Craig and Amy Short of Nixa, Mo. wowed the crowd with slight of hand while sharing assorted tidbits of information about keeping our natural water supplies clean and safe.

Obituary - Celestine Mills

Celestine (Varns) Mills, 92, of Butler, Missouri died Saturday, August 27, 2011 at the CountryView Nursing Home, Prescott,Kansas. She was born May 31, 1919 in Bates County, Missouri, the daughter of Lon Morris and Mary Alice Raybourn Varns. Celestine graduated from Butler High School with the Class of 1937. On September 17, 1938, she married Robert L. Mills in Kansas City, Missouri.

She was a member of the Christian Church, Butler, Missouri where she was actively involved with the CWF and the Non Pariel Sunday School class for many years. She also helped prepare and serve many dinners at the church and enjoyed this fellowship time with her church family.

She worked for a number of years at several grocery stores in Butler, but was first and foremost a homemaker. Her family remembers fondly the wonderful meals she prepared and the loving and caring person she was to each of them.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Robert who died April 27, 2002, her daughter, Alice Higgins; three brothers, George, Kenneth and Harold Varns; her sisters-in-law, Ina, Augusta and Helen (Jasper)Varns and Helen (George) Varns, Mary Isabelle Mills and a brother-in-law, John Mills.

Survivors include two sons; Bob Mills & wife, Doris of Colony, Kansas; Terry Mills & wife, Annie, of Mound City, Kansas; one brother, Jasper Varns of Butler, Missouri; seven grandchildren; Cindy Gillam, Cherie Marshall, Candy Dunlap, Melissa Bonham, T.J Mills., Kari Catron and Kris Higgins; two step grandchildren; Kendra Welston and Krista Morris; nine great grandchildren; five step great grandchildren, five great great grandchildren, many nieces and nephews.

Celestine loved her family and friends and cherished each and everyone of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. We will all miss her.

Services will be held at 10:30 AM, Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at the Mullinax Funeral Home, Butler, Missouri; Visitation will be from 6-7:30 PM Tuesday. Memorial contributions are suggested to the Presccott Countryview Nursing Home or the American Cancer Society. Interment will be in the Oak Hill Cemetery, Butler, Missouri.

Online condolences may be left for the family at www.vansant-millsfuneralhome.com

Arrangements entrusted to the Vansant-Mills Funeral Home, Clinton, Missouri.

Friday night football scores

El Dorado Springs 27, Adrian 7

Crest Ridge 33, Rich Hill 0

Butler 44, Stockton 13

Drexel 49, Appleton City 6

Archie 42, Windsor 7

Cass-Midway 35, Maysville 0

Date correction regarding distribution this Thursday

We mistakenly put August 1st instead of September 1st for the distribution this Thursday at the Butler Community Food Pantry. Here is the story as it should be:


Another 'unexpected' (albeit surprise) truckload of food will be delivered to the Butler Community Food Pantry next Thursday, September 1st, courtesy of Harvestors. The distribution will be held between 4 and 6 p.m. at the pantry located at the corner of Ohio and Prospect streets in west Butler.

The regular mass distribution is held on the fourth Saturday of each month from 8:30  to 11:30 a.m.

-our thanks to Joyce Fitzpatrick

A note from the Butler Police Department...

On August 26 the Butler Police Department conducted a safety checkpoint on High street by the grade school. Officers checked for valid driver licenses and seatbelts. The checkpoint started at 7:20 a.m. and ended at 8:10 a.m.

During this time the officers checked 179 vehicles and issued 26 citations. The Butler Police Department would like to thank everyone and apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused.

-our thanks to the Butler Police Department

Ladies Aid Meeting news...

21 members of the Double Branch Christian Church Ladies Aid met Thursday August 25th at 6:30 pm in the fellowship hall.  The theme was Mexico our neighbor to the south, with Mexican food, decorations and

Improvements on Bates County Live web site

A screen shot of how news will now appear on your mobile device

Just a quick note to let you know that just today we implemented support code to make
our news appear on your mobile device in a clean, easy to read format as shown here. We have tested it on several models of mobile phones it seems to work perfectly. If you have any comments or concerns, don't hesitate to  contact us.

You might also notice some strange things happening in the appearance of our home page off and on over the weekend as we work towards 'tightening up' the home page so it will load quicker. In the process we will also modify the appearance of the home page to make better use of space.

Bear with us, it's all for the better and thanks for reading Bates County Live!