Osage Valley Electric Cooperative:Car Strikes Pole

Osage Valley Electric Cooperative has several members without power south of Freeman. Crews are in route to repair a pole that was hit by a car. Please call 800-889-6832 to report an outage.

Medicalodge Food Drive

The Medicalodge of Butler is having a food drive to help benefit a employee who is battling cancer. The drive is for non -perishable food items. The drive goes on until June 6th from 9am to 4pm.

Medicalodge is located at 103 E. Nursery Street in Butler.

Obituary - Mary Evelyn Hodges

Mary Evelyn Hodges, 86, Raymore, Missouri, died Tuesday, June 3, 2014 at Foxwood Springs Living Center in Raymore. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Friday, June 6 at the Atkinson Funeral Home in Harrisonville, Missouri with visitation from 10:30-11:00. Burial will be in Crescent Hill Cemetery, Adrian, Missouri. (A complete obituary will be posted when available).

Weekend weather forecast: uh, wet

There's a lot going on this weekend with the Relay for Life event, a fishing tournament, a car show and more... unfortunately the weather folks didn't get the message that we need it to be nice...

Thursday - High of 79 with a 50% chance of rain, 80% chance overnight

Friday - High of 80 with a 50% chance of rain, 60% chance overnight

Saturday - High of 83 with a 60% chance and a 40% chance overnight

Sunday -  Very slight chance of rain with a high of 75

You can view live radar here

2014 Bates County Relay for Life all set for Saturday

The 2014 Relay for Life event is set to kick off Saturday morning at 11 a.m. with emcees Greg Mullinax and Diane Bartels. A full day of events will be held on the Butler square:

11:30 a.m. – Survivors walk

Some of the 700 luminaries in the 2012 Relay for Life event
on the Butler square

12:00 p.m. – music by Irene Holt
12:30 – entertainment by Ryan and Shannon Hanlin
1:30 – children’s games and Cheer Camp
2:00 – Dog Show / Color of Strength / Bark for Life
2:30 – Toddlers Swimsuit Contest  (sign up at Memories of MOM tent)
3:00 – Tony Reynolds
4:00 – music by Irene Holt
4:30 - a performance by the Blues Brothers
5:15 – Award of scholarships: Hospital Foundation, Gehm Family Scholarship and Debbie Bledsoe Scholarship
5:30 - Auction
6:30 – Line Dancing / Butler Senior Center
7:00 – music by Irene Holt
8:15 – music by Fred Hunt and Roger Tippie
9:45 – raffle drawing
10:00 - Lanterns and Luminaries ceremony
12:30 – Closing ceremonies for the 2014 Bates County Relay for Life

The silent auction runs 1 to 5 p.m.
Scavenger Hunt starts  3 p.m.  at the Mash Tent
Beads for Walking at the Mash Tent
Matt Marvel will making balloon animals
Sarah Huges doing face painting  noon to 2 p.m.
Lap Bingo
Mini Cheerleader Camp

Lightning takes toll on dairy cattle near Amsterdam

10 cows die near Amsterdam as the result of a
lightning strike May 29th

Just last week, a fast moving, albeit small storm rolled onto the Nieder dairy farm east of Amsterdam. Nothing out of the ordinary after all, it's that time of year. Suddenly a loud crack and immediate boom coming from an area south of the milk barn prompted family members to investigate-finding 10 milk cows dead from a lightning strike.

It's not uncommon for these types of things to happen. Lightning is very unpredictable- not always striking the tallest thing OR hitting multiple points with a single bolt.

So what can be done to protect animals out in the open? Not much according to the Missouri Extension Office, as animals may instinctively seek shelter during a storm but unfortunately under a tree may be the worst place. In fact, most deaths by lightning occur near a tree, as opposed to out in the open. While lightning may directly strike the tree, not the cows, it kills due to an electrical differential between charged air and the ground.

However, research shows that some animals, such as horses may be trained to head to a lean to or loafing shed as soon as thunder rumbles in the distance. This training would require the owner to herd the animals to the building as a storm approaches, possibly many times until the animal realizes they should do it on their own when they sense an incoming storm.

The odds of anyone (or animal) getting struck by lightning is about 1 in 575,000. The odds of it being serious enough to kill is about 1 in 2,320,000.

More information about protecting your farm buildings and property can be found here.

Traffic Delays In Appleton City Tomorrow

ATTENTION: There will be traffic delays on Monday, June 9 on 4th St. between Zink Motor Co. and AC School from 9 am to 1 pm, due to oil slurry application on the pavement surface. Please use alternate route if possible to avoid delays and congestion. Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

78 Year Old Nevada Man Arrested For Domestic Assult

A 78-year-old Nevada man is in custody for allegedly ramming the car he was driving into one his wife was driving apparently as part of an argument over money. Detective Josh Westerhold says officers were called to an area near the intersection of Hunter and Clay streets and found the street blocked by two damaged vehicles. He adds witnesses told officers the suspect rammed the car driven by his 73-year-old wife.

They both were treated by emergency medical personnel at the scene and officers said the man made several spontaneous statements in front of them and witnesses. Det. Westerhold identified the man as Garland Mason and he was booked at the Vernon County jail on felony charges alleging first-degree domestic assault and armed criminal action. His bond was set at $50,000.00, cash or surety.