Obituary - Waborn Ray Phillips

Waborn Ray Phillips, age 61, Mound City, Kansas passed away at his home Tuesday January 21, 2020.

He was born on September 6, 1958 in Harrison, Arkansas to M. Glen and Estalee (Braswell) Phillips. He graduated from Blue Eye High School with the Class of 1976. After marrying Peggy Haas on October 3, 1998, Waborn followed his passion for his career as a dental technician, and became owner of Phillips Dental Laboratory in 2003. Waborns' greatest joy was any time family would gather at his home. He loved to visit, catch up on family news, tell stories and usually ended with a game of four-point pitch. He loved hunting, fish fries, crab boils, and bonfires. He was always up for getting the kids, family, and friends together outdoors riding four wheelers, hunting, fishing, and front yard whiffle ball games. His excitement and energy wasn't easy to keep up with.

Waborn was preceded in death by his father, and an infant sister, Marsha.

He is survived by his wife, Peggy; mother, Estalee Phillips; son, Brandon Phillips, wife Kara, and grandson Ryker; daughter Megan Brockhoff and husband Ben; sister Teresa Tibbets and husband Doug; stepson Michael Grube, wife Stacy, and granddaughters Alyssa and Lauren; stepson Kevin Grube; a niece Lora Compton, husband Joy and their children Trevor, Treyton and Trace. He is also survived by a niece, Michelle Tibbets; a nephew, Jarrod Phillips and wife Anika; niece, Alisha Standlee and husband Zane; niece, Andrea Benoit, husband Andrew; and niece, Tammy Smith. He is also survived by numerous great nieces and nephews, extended family and friends.

Waborns' family wishes to express their gratitude to Good Shepherd Hospice for their help and support.

A gathering to celebrate Waborn's life will be held Saturday February 1, 2020 at the Mound City First Baptist Church. Visitation will be from 10 to 11:30 am, followed by a memorial service from 11:30am-12:00. Online condolences can be left at www.schneiderfunerals.com. Arrangements: Schneider Funeral Home and Crematory, Mound City Chapel.

A week of work for a lifetime gift

Phyllis Bunch surprised the folks of the Butler Senior Center with a Bessie Ross American flag she crocheted. Phyllis says that it takes a week for her to finish a 40cm x 23cm flag. Nice work indeed!

Light Snow today thru tomorrow morning

More snow today through tomorrow morning. Flurries this morning/afternoon followed by accumulating snow this evening.

Early morning fire in Nevada

Early this morning the Nevada Fire Department responded to a fire at 1311 N. Osage, fire crews went straight into a defensive attack due to building collapse and fire conditions. The building was a total loss and the fire is currently under investigation.

Mid America Live News will update when more information is made available to us from the Nevada Fire Department.

It only happens once a year...

Got something old? Unusual? Weird? Bring it to the Bates County Museum Saturday March 7th at 10:30 am for the annual show and tell gathering. The fun will be followed by a tasty soup/chili luncheon for a free will donation.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Heavy police presence in Butler

Photo Copyright of Mid America Live 

The Butler Police Department has a situation developing in the 800 block of W. Dakota, stay clear of this area. We will advise on here when the area is back open.

This is not in the area of the Elementary School.

Mid America Live News will update when more information is made available to us.


** Update 9:00am**
This incident is over and no one was injured! Mid America Live News will update when more information is made available to us.

One injured after vehicle strikes deer in Bates County

On 1/26/20 around 7:05pm the Missouri State Highway Patrol in Bates County responded to a one vehicle accident on Missouri 52 West Highway just east of CR NW 9001 in rural Bates County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says the accident occurred when the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado driven by 61 year old Van D. Coleman of Harrisonville, Missouri struck a deer that was in the roadway.

A passenger in the vehicle 56 year old Yodie R. Vunovich of Amoret, Missouri sustained minor injuries in this accident and she was treat for injuries at the Bates County Memorial Hospital.

The truck was driven from the scene of the accident.

To the Citizens of Bates County

Recently, Sheriff Anderson has been very vocal about the negative effects of the "Catch and Release" program that was sent down from the Missouri Supreme Court to local courts. These rules have and will continue to tie the hands of the local Judicial system by taking our local Judges' ability to assess the threat a person is to our community, by taking away Judicial Discretion while they hold the office. 

Sheriff Anderson has also been a critic of the new Justice Reform rules that have been demanded by many of our politicians on the state and federal levels. Sheriff Anderson has also reflected the opinions of many of his constituents in regards to reduction of prison population and the future intentions by Missouri Department of Corrections to further reduce the prison population by reducing sentenced inmates prison time and releasing them back into our communities without any meaningful oversight once they are released.

"The actions by the Supreme Court, the Department of Corrections and by many of our Elected Officials in Jefferson City has and will continued to do nothing to better the State of Missouri. We will continue to become nothing more than one of the largest manufacturers of Victims in this country." Says Sheriff Anderson. "I recognize that we cannot "jail" our way out of this situation, but the state has gutted the Mental Health System Financially and strapped the hands of our local courts to sentence anyone to prison by closing prisons and restructuring laws so that each county will now be burdened with housing inmates that should be in the state prison. I just recently read that the DOC has reduced its population from 33,000 to 26,000 and the Governor has announced again that there is intentions to close even more bed space at the state prison level. Are the number of crimes being committed going down or are we just shifting the responsibility of housing inmates to the local authorities so that we can pat ourselves on the back and say we have done something and reduced inmates counts? Where does your local Sheriff get the money to take on the new influx of inmates because with the new rules by DOC who refuses to take custody of their clients when they are charged with new crimes while serving the rest of their sentence walking the streets and victimizing more citizens."

As many have shared stories of the failed catch and release program, as recent as January 24th, 2020 a Deputy with the Sheriff's Office stopped to check on what he thought was a stranded motorist. As the Deputy attempted to make contact with the subject the subject fled the scene in the vehicle at over 100 mph. The subject eventually turned down a dead end road and slide the car off in the ditch after almost striking another vehicle. The subject ran on foot and was later taken into custody by the K9 unit in a field. A later check of the vehicle turns out that is was stolen from the parking lot of the Sheriff's Office and belonged to a Jail employee. This emboldened act by this person was obviously caught on camera but that did not discourage his behavior. The victim, is a single mother who works hard to raise her family, and now has to burden the cost of repair done to her vehicle at the hands of someone who should have been in the custody of the Department of Corrections and even though he was caught again violating his probation will not be sent to Department of Corrections until this new case is settled. Meanwhile, he will soon become eligible to receive a signature bond and be released from jail under the new Supreme Court Rules and continue to victimize our communities.

A Criminal history check on this subject showed almost 16 pages of arrest for drug possession, theft, burglary, tampering with motor vehicles, armed robbery and armed criminal action. To be exact he plead guilty or was found guilty to many of those charges but has never been sent to the Department of Corrections.

History:
On 6/24/15 Guilty of Theft given 2 years probation
1/13/17 Guilty of Receiving stolen property, Leave the scene, Sentenced to 5 years but instead got 5 years probation
1/13/17 Guilty of Robbery 2nd, Sentenced to 8 years but instead of going to jail got 5 years probation.
4/4/17 probation was revoked sentenced 60 days in jail
7/25/19 Guilty of Property damage, (burglary and stealing charges dropped) Sentenced to 7 years got 5 years probation.
1/24/2020 Charged with tampering with a motor vehicle.

Where does these changes leave the working citizens of our community? It leaves them scared, tired and ready to take matters in their hands. Hard working Americans should not have to live like this. Hard working Americans expect the Judicial system to be fair but yet hold those accountable for their actions when they violate the laws that everyone else has to abide by. Hard working Bates Countians expect the Missouri Department of Corrections to keep criminals in prison to serve the sentence that was handed down by our elected Judges who live in our communities and know whats best for the safety of our communities.

From the desk of Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson