Police searching for subjects who fled after pursuit in NW Bates County

The Missouri State Highway Patrol along with Bates County Sheriff's Office ended a police pursuit with a stolen flat bed GMC truck that fled from officers.

The pursuit ended when the vehicle traveled through a bean field and crashed into a creek bed around the area of CR 8001 and CR 10002 in rural Amsterdam at this time. 

A helicopter is on scene at to help in the search for subjects who fled on foot north. No clothing description has been made available to us. Please avoid this area as a police presence is heavy.

If you see anything suspicious in this area please contact the Bates County Sheriff's Office 6606793232.

Mid America Live News will update when more information is made available to us from the Bates County Sheriff's Office.

Update 9:15pm:

All Subjects are in custody at this time... Mid America Live will update when more information is made available to us

Copyright Mid America Live News 

From Osage Valley Electric Cooperative

Osage Valley Electric Cooperative is currently experiencing an outage on our Crescent Hill substation (Adrian area) affecting several hundred members. Crews are working to restore power as quickly as possible. 

Keep in mind you may experience busy signals due to the high volume of calls. You can also use the SmartHub app to report outages.

Obituary - Steven Leon Campbell

Steven Leon Campbell, 76, formerly of Nevada, MO passed away on Friday, December 07, 2018 at his home in Hazelwood, MO. 

He was born September 6, 1942 in Pryor, OK to Walter Lee and Lucybelle (Compton) Campbell.

Additional family and service information will be announced by Ferry Funeral Home at a later time.

Homicide Investigation in Raymore

The Cass County Sheriff's Office is currently investigating a possible homicide in the 1000 block of N. Jerry east if Raymore.

No information about the victim is available at this time.

Investigators are working with area law enforcement to locate the suspect who fled from the scene in a vehicle.

More information will be released when available.

From the desk of Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson

As we begin to look forward to the close of 2018, I wanted to share a little bit of information about your Sheriff’s Office. As many of you can see, the county has started construction on an addition to the jail. This has brought about many questions from citizens who are interested in the activities of their county government. I am excited to share some of the information that is most asked about the Sheriff’s Office and offer information that they may not have known or may have been given misleading information.

The first and most often asked question is how is the Sheriff’s Office funded? I am going to take you back a few years to 1988. Prior to 1988, the Sheriff’s Office was funded out of general revenue. In 1988, a tax initiative was placed on the ballot for a ½ cent sales tax for law enforcement. When that tax passed, it set up a Law Enforcement Fund to be utilized by county law enforcement. This allowed for the funds that originally came out of general revenue to be returned to general revenue for other purposes and give law enforcement an independent funding source. The Law Enforcement Fund doesn’t just fund the Sheriff’s Office it also funds the Prosecutor’s Office, the Juvenile Office and the Coroner’s Office. Many people don’t realized that four different county offices are funded from this ½ cent sales tax.

This answer is usually followed up with the question of how much money does this this local tax generate. I read an article, that in 1988, the tax was projected to generate approximately $250,000 to fund those four offices. In 2017 that tax generated approximately $700,000. Sometime over the years the need for law enforcement funding was greater than the sales tax alone could provide and the voters passed a ½ cent Use Tax with that tax being dedicated to the Law Enforcement Fund by the County Commissioners to help keep up with the growing needs of all four of those offices. In 2017 those two local taxes generate approximately $850,000 which still funds the four offices that I talked about earlier. On average, over the last 9 years the Sheriff’s Office only received 8% of its budget from these funds.

In the early 2000’s, it became very apparent that the jail needed replaced. The voters supported their Sheriff’s Office and passed a Jail tax that allowed the county to build a new jail. That Jail tax expired in 2017 and was approved by the voters to be continued as a Capitol Improvement Tax for the purpose of maintaining the courthouse and all county owned buildings. Since 2004, the Sheriff’s Office has held contractual agreements with outside agencies to house inmates for them in the new jail. These contracts have generated additional income for the Sheriff’s Office helping us to provide better services to our citizens without asking for any additional taxes for operational purposes since 1988.

Another question I am often asked is how the Sheriff’s Office affords the amount of Deputies and Detention Officers that we have and the equipment that they often use. My answer is simply we make it a priority. As your Sheriff, I cannot put a dollar amount on the price of the safety of our citizens, visitors to our community or Deputies. Ensuring that there are Deputies patrolling our community twenty four hours a day, seven days a week is a priority of mine. Ensuring that Deputies are trained and properly staffed to protect each other while they protect our citizens is a priority of mine. Ensuring that there are enough Detention Officers to keep and maintain the jail to secure violent offenders while they are here is a priority of mine. Staying within our budget is a priority of mine. Simply put it is my job to make sure that they have the tools, training and that there is enough staff to perform our jobs to meet the expectations of the Citizens of Bates County. Since I took office in 2009, I have watched the expectations, legal requirements and job responsibilities of law enforcement grow beyond what many agencies can handle. 

Whether it is new standards imposed by outside entities that often have no understanding of law enforcement, court rulings affecting law enforcement., dealing with the opioid epidemic, mental health crisis, staff shortage crisis (because no one wants to be a police officer anymore) or financial constraints set by local governing bodies.

Here are some interesting facts that I think the Citizens have a right to know and are often mislead about our Sheriff’s Office. Since 2009, the Sheriff’s Office has ended every fiscal year under budget. From 2009 to 2017 we have saved approximately $2,549,000 from being under budget and we are looking at adding to that figure as we finish 2018. We are able to do this because I have challenged each employee to make it part of their responsibility to constantly evaluate the way we perform our jobs and find any areas that we can be more efficient and effective without sacrificing the safety of our citizens or failing to meet their expectations.

Since 2009, on average, only 8% of the Sheriff’s Office budget each year comes from our local sales tax. While many other counties have sought tax increases from their citizens solely for funding the Sheriff’s Office we have been fortunate enough not to have asked for any additional sales tax and to generate 92% of our yearly budget from contractual agreements outside of our community. The 92% of our budget that is generated by the Sheriff’s Office beyond the local sales tax is what pays for the salaries of the staff, police cars, safety equipment, training, technology and most of the other needs of the Sheriff’s Office.

As we add on to the jail, we look forward to 2019 with high expectations that we can continue to be successful and to utilize what we have financially to continue to offer the honorable service that we have to our citizens. As your Sheriff, I have taken an oath to uphold the laws of our land, fulfill the duty of my office and to support and defend the Constitution of Missouri and the United States. I look forward to giving the citizens a year-end report on calls for service with other statistics after we close out the year.

God Bless and I wish you a very Merry Christmas

Sheriff Chad Anderson

Butler Police Department Public Service Announcement

Due to the increase in thefts of items that have been delivered to homes where no one is home, the Butler Police will allow any Butler resident that is expecting a delivery to be dropped off at the Police Department up to and including December 24,2018. 

If interested you must come to the Butler Police Department and fill out a form that includes the following information. Be advised if you do not fill out a form and still have a package shipped here we will not accept it.

The name that will appear on the package
2 working phone numbers
Your address
Number of packages (if known)
Expected delivery date

Once the package has been received by the Police Department we will contact you or leave a message. All packages must be picked up as soon as possible due to limited storage space. 

Butler Police will not be responsible for any damaged items. If you have any questions contact the Butler Police at 679-6131

Obituary - Catharine Lynn Studdie

Memorial services for Cathy Studdie of Butler, Missouri will be 11 a.m. Saturday, December 15, 2018 at the Schowengerdt Funeral Chapel (660-679-6555) in Butler. There is no visitation. Inurnment at a later date in Plant Cemetery, Clinton, Arkansas. Contributions to family. Online condolences www.schowengerdtchapel.com.

Catharine "Cathy" Lynn Studdie, age 63 of Butler, Missouri died Wednesday, December 5, 2018 at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. She was born November 8, 1955 to John Edwin and Frances Patricia Williams Wade in Iola, Kansas.

Cathy is survived by her fiance`, Jayson Dixon of Butler, Missouri; mother, Frances Smith of Kansas City, Kansas; father, John Edwin Wade of Clinton, Arkansas; three sons, Steven Barnett, James Barnett and Patrick Barnett and wife Keelee all of Conway, Arkansas; two brothers, Steven Wade of Clinton, Arkansas and Harry Wade of Edwardsville, Kansas; three sisters, Penny Gregory and husband Gary of Kansas City, Kansas, Brenda Shoemaker of Conway, Arkansas and Stacey Wiseman of Butler, Missouri; and four grandchildren.

House fire in Butler

Butler and Adrian fire, along with first responders are on the scene of a structure fire at 413 W. Ohio street where flames were reportedly coming through the roof. No injuries are being reported at this time, more information will be posted as it becomes available. -staff photo