Kansas City Area Forecast

Hot weather conditions will continue through the end of the week. Humidity will be on the increase with heat index values over a 100 Thursday. Thunderstorm chances return for the weekend.

Early morning house fire in Adrian

Shortly before 5:00 a.m. this morning the Adrian Fire Department along with mutual aide assistance from the Butler Fire Department responded to a house fire near the area of 7th and Kentucky in Adrian.

Everyone was able to make it out of the home safely and the America Red Cross was called to the scene to assist.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation at this time and we will update when more information is made available to us. 

Barton County Sheriff's Office assisting in Kansas Police Pursuit

**ATTENTION **

This evening Barton County Sheriff's Deputies assisted the Crawford County Kansas Sheriff’s Office and Pittsburg Kansas Police Department in a pursuit that entered Barton County. 

The suspect vehicle crashed at the intersection of SW 160th Ln & SW 50th Rd. Two males fled and one was tracked by Cherokee County K9 team and taken in to custody.

The second suspect is still at large. He is described as a white male wearing a red shirt and black shorts. If you see someone matching that description walking in the area of Mindenmines, Mo please call 911!

Do not approach or try to apprehend this person, he is possibly armed and he is a suspect in a shooting that occurred earlier in the evening in Pittsburg, KS.

Barton County Sheriff’s Office
417-682-5515

Obituary - Lorraine Catherine Lordi

Lorraine Lordi, 62 of Kansas City, Missouri passed away Sunday, June 13, 2021 at Medicalodge of Butler. Cremation, with private family inurnment in Leavenworth National Cemetery. 

Arrangements entrusted to Mullinax Funeral Home, Butler (660-679-0009). Memorial contributions may be made to Wayside Waifs. Messages of condolence may be left for the family at www.mullinaxfuneralhome.com.

Lorraine Catherine Lordi was born June 23, 1958 in Norfolk, England to Charles and Shirley Carter McElroy. Lorraine’s father served in the US Airforce, so the family moved often, until they settled in Kansas City in the early 70’s. She attended Ruskin High School and graduated in 1976. After graduation Lorraine enlisted in the US Airforce as well. After discharge Lorraine worked for the Railroad and eventually for the US Government as an ATF Agent, retiring in 2019.

Lorraine was preceded in death by her parents and sister Debbie Koenning. She is survived by her daughter Jeanette McElroy and partner Samuel Jones, three nieces, Rachael Worley, Heather Russell, and Olivia Russell.

St. Clair County Sheriff's Office is seeking public assistance

The St. Clair County Sheriff's Office and Osceola Police Department are requesting information regarding this man or vehicle involved in a local Burglary.

 
Anyone with information helping identify or locate the individual pictured here should call the St. Clair County Sheriff's Office at 417-646-2565.

Butler Chamber Business of the Month

Bates County Memorial Hospital has been chosen as the June Business of the Month by the Butler Chamber of Commerce. Left to right, Chief Nursing Officer Rebecca Tarver, hospital board member Mike Taranto, hospital CEO and chamber President Greg Weaver, chamber member Cheyenne Devellan, chamber Executive Director Barbara Lawrence and chamber member Kim Jacobs.

Olden days of flying: Pecan shells at the fuel pump

What’s Up
By LeRoy Cook

We were privileged to have some nice flying conditions last week, other than the short cold-front line that blew through Friday evening. The dry air behind the front gave us blue skies instead of white haze.

 All types of aircraft were in this week, from a Bell JetRanger helicopter to a Piper Twin Comanche. A Cessna Skylane and a Piper Archer came by, a Piper Arrow shot touch and go landings, and a Cessna 172 stopped in. Any number of practice instrument approaches were tallied.

The Butler-based pilots contributed to the traffic count as well. Roy Conley took one last flight in his experimental gyrocopter, I had a couple of hops in the Cessna Skyhawk, Jeffery Adams ventured out in a Cessna 150 and Jeff Arnold took the Cessna 172 to Pittsburgh, Kansas. CFI Eric Eastland did some training sessions in Cessna 150s.

I was pumping fuel into an airplane one day while my 17-year-old student was watching, when it occurred to me that I was doing the exact same thing when I was his age, in the exact same spot, a half-dozen decades ago. The fuel pump was in the same place, except the tank was safely underground instead of sitting in a tin box. There was a swinging sign on a post, advertising Mobil avgas with a “flying red horse” trademark. I had to stand on a rickety wooden stepladder, instead of Tom Winters’ nice welded roll-around cart we still use. And there was no air-conditioned waiting room for shelter; the only convenience Butler offered was an outhouse situated over a pit north of the fuel island. Because the entire airport was grass, we hauled some truckloads of pecan shells, donated by Max Harwick of Osage Pecan Co., to spread around the gas pump so planes wouldn’t get stuck in the mud.

 At last week’s airport commission meeting, there was discussion of pavement rejuvenation by late summer, long overdue if further deterioration is to be avoided. Other projects needed are replacing the rotating beacon light and getting the wi-fi connection restored; the former’s been out for a year and the latter merely a month. The inoperative PAPI (precision approach path indicator) lights are probably not going to be replaced, due to the expense. The PAPI beams are helpful for high-performance business-type airplanes trying to land in poor visibility, but are largely ignored by the pilots of smaller general aviation aircraft.

 “Is it a nice day for flying?” we got asked by a non-pilot on one of those warm days last week. It was indeed a beautiful day, with lots of puffy white clouds floating around the blue sky, a light breeze blowing out of the southwest. What she didn’t understand was that thermal turbulence is almost a given on such days, as the earth heats up and starts belching updrafts, with matching downdrafts. The building cumulus clouds are created by rising air. So, the better flying days are really the overcast ones, with stable air.

 The week’s question wanted to know what amount of clouds constituted a ceiling. It has to be a layer covering half of more of the sky’s dome, more than four-eighths coverage under international rules. So, the scattered clouds floating around at 500 feet don’t count, as long as they don’t cover a majority of the sky. For next week, what was a “toilet paper cutting” contest sometimes staged at old-fashioned airport fly-ins? You can send your answer in to kochhaus1@gmail.com.

Butler Police seeking public assistance

This guy thinks that just because he runs from the Police that he won’t be caught…Let’s prove him wrong!!!

Need to ID this guy that fled from Police this afternoon on a blue sport bike West on 52 from Butler. 660-679-6131 if you can help.