Wadel found guilty on child sex abuse charges

Thursday, December 1st, a Bates County Jury found 28 year old Christopher Wadel guilty of child sexual abuse and child endangerment. Prosecuting Attorney Hugh C. Jenkins presented the State's case and the Jury deliberated for just over 4 hours before finding Wadel guilty on two counts of Statutory Sodomy, one count of Statutory Rape and two counts of Child Endangerment. Wadel was found not guilty on the charge of assault and felony child abuse. Judge James Journey presided over the 3 day trial.

Expert testimony was given by professional forensic interviewers from the Children's Centers in Butler and Nevada, Missouri and the Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. These professionals are trained specifically to deal with the trauma of child sexual abuse and forensic evidence of the abuse was presented by the State. Testimony was also heard from both of the victims, the grandparents and the natural mother of the children. Christopher Wadel did not testify.

In May of 2010 a report was made to the Bates County Sheriff's Department alleging physical abuse of the children and as the investigation continued, the young victims, ages 4 and 5 when the crimes were committed disclosed that sexual abuse had occurred.

Wadel was arrested in January of 2011 and has been in the Bates County jail since that time. After the verdict was read, Wadel was immediately taken into custody and returned to the Bates County Jail to await sentencing scheduled for the February 2012 trial week.

-Bates County Prosecuting Attorney, Hugh C. Jenkins

Bates County Elks meet quota on donated bikes

First, a big thank you to our community for an overwhelming response in donating bicycles to the Bates County Elks to fix up for local kids for Christmas. According to Terry Agnew, the Elks now have plenty of bikes on hand and they are not able to accept any more at this time.

Again, the Elks would like to thank everyone for their donations. The refurbished bikes will be distributed later this month.

Hey kids! Write your letter to Santa now...

Kids in Bates County have a direct line to Santa this year! Get your wish list written and mailed by 5 p.m. on Dec. 20th. The Butler Post Office has a Santa letter drop box in the lobby OR you may drop it into their outside mail box as well. And don't forget to add your return address!

It's a long way to the North Pole so get your letters written now so Santa has time to reply before Christmas...

BY THE WAY Santa will be appearing on the Butler Courthouse lawn on the following dates:
Dec 10th 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. & 1-3 p.m.
Dec 14th 5-7 p.m.
Dec 17th 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1-3p.m.
Dec 21st 5-7 p.m.

-our thanks to FM 92 and the employees of the Butler Post Office

Composite photo released of stabbing suspect

Composite photo of suspect

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office is releasing the sketch drawing of a suspect wanted in the stabbing of a Drexel man on November 23. The man is described as a white male, 5’9”, 250lbs, approximately 30 years old, stocky build, with shaggy brown hair.

Anyone with information on this case should contact the Cass County Sheriff’s Office at 816-380-5200.

From the desk of Senator David Pearce

Legislative Session Work Begins The next Missouri legislative session begins Jan. 4, but work is already underway for possible legislation. December 1 begins the process of assigning numbers to prefiled legislation. Prefiling legislation is important, because the quicker a bill is introduced in the legislature, the more opportunity it has for debate in each chamber. The process begins with the most senior lawmaker offering up to three bills for prefiling and continues through the Senate roster until there are no more bills being offered. However, bills can be introduced by any senator during session until March 1.

Finalists announced in Special Olympics car giveaway

Special Olympics Missouri announced their finalists for the Wheels for Winners Raffle prior to the MU/Texas Tech football game on November 19. Congratulations to Judith Matteson, Grant City (formerly of Butler), who was a second place finalist in the Kansas City Metro Area. Her winning ticket was purchased from Bates County Blazers coach, Gayla Boyd. Ms. Matteson won a $100 Wal-Mart gift card.

The winner of the 2011 Chevy Camaro was from Bonne Terre. This year’s sales efforts reached a brand new high total of $117,380! The Camaro was donated by the Missouri Automobile Dealers Association, which means 100% of the proceeds go toward year-round sports training for children and adults with intellectual disabilities who participate in Special Olympics. Thank you, again, to all who donated.

-courtesy FM 92.1 the Bullet

Lows in the 20's for the weekend...

Today

Partly cloudy. Highs in the mid 50s. South winds 5 to 10 mph shifting to the west in the afternoon.

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. Lows around 30. North winds 10 to 15 mph.

A thank you from FM-92...

With the local football season at an end and basketball season beginning, FM-92 would like to take the time to recognize the men that make the broadcast of your local schools athletics teams possible. Coverage includes local games, tournaments and playoffs from various teams in our 8 county listening area.

Brad Davis of Butler, Shannon Gepford of MCI Financial, Nick Swietzer of Max Motors, Lance Sargent (the latest addition to the sports team), along with Rance Waite of Archie assisting with the announcing.

Arnold Hannah of Butler retired from sports announcing in 2009 but is a strong member of the Butler Bear Backers and the broadcast of games. Arnold announced your local football and basketball games for the past 32 years from the field of local schools in our area. His son Kirk began his sports announcing career at the age of 16 and is now the athletic director at Butler High School.

Shannon Gepford, Matt Maisch and Brad Davis of the FM-92
sports crew

We take the time to thank Doug Mager of Bates County Live. Doug was employed as a dj at FM-92 in his high school years and is now working side by side with FM-92 to provide local news for our area. Doug provides web streaming of the local games on his web site and we appreciate his loyalty to FM-92 and our listeners.

Jim Damon of Butler began his broadcasting career with FM-92 radio station over 30 years ago. His son James teamed up with his father at the age of 16 and he is now a pastor and a teacher but is still heard on FM-92 as a back-up sports announcer.

While Jim Damon has announced his retirement from sports announcing, he is still dedicated to our local schools and will be heard on the air when he is needed to fill for other announcers when they are unable to broadcast the games.