Obituary - Keith Eric Kunkelman

Keith Eric Kunkelman, 61, Adrian, MO, passed away Sunday, October 10, 2021 at KU Medical Center in Kansas City, KS. Memorial services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, October 16, 2021 at the Atkinson Funeral Home in Adrian. Memorial contributions may be made to Wounded Warriors.

Keith was born July 1, 1960 in Kansas City, MO, a son of Larry and Barbara (Scott) Kunkelman. He graduated from Raytown High School. In 1979, he married Jeanne Kilbane. To this union were born two daughters, Linda and Erica. Keith was a retired U.S. Navy Veteran. He had worked at Quintiles in Olathe, KS. Keith was very active in the Wounded Warriors Project.

Keith was preceded in death by his father, Larry Kunkelman, his mother, Barbara Scott, his grandmother, Blanche " G.G." Kunkelman, an infant sister who died at birth, Beverly Jean, sister-in-law, Debbie Kunkelman, two brothers-in-law, Danny Kilbane and Tim Kilbane, and a nephew, Joshua Kunkelman. He is survived by his wife, Jeanne Kunkelman; his step-mother, Bonnie Kunkelman; two daughters, Linda Pearson (Skip) and Erica Rathbone (Chris); five grandchildren, Breanna Pearson, Garrett Pearson, Elizebeth Balance, Autumn Rathbone, and Zoie Rathbone; siblings: Floyd Kunkelman, Kevin Kunkelman (dad’s identical twin), Lynn Elsloo (Randy), Jason Kunkelman, Amy Kunkelman; brother-in-law, Robin Kilbane; 12 nephews and nieces, Alan, Jonathan (Tori), Megan, Alyssa, Tyler, Joshua, Marley, Jessica (Curtis), Lauren (Brandon), Cameron, Bradley, and Nikki, and 14 great-nephews and nieces.

Bates County Real Estate Transfers and Marriage Licenses

Ward, Robin to Ball, Lyle M Str 22-40-31 //Sw

Base, Steven L. to Base, Loren K. Bl 36 Sperrys Addn

Sargent, Lance to Shaffer, Jeremy L Str 22-40-31 //Ne

Thornton, Melody to Deems, John Dillon Lt 1 Bl 8 Gilbert Heights+

Scheilz, Stanley Ray Sr. to Mce Squared, Llc Str 22-40-31 //Se

Mclain, Neil D to Mclain, Richard Lt 36 Lynwood Estate

Alkire, David L to O’niell, Patrick Str 25-42-32 //Sw

Ewing, Peggy L. to Lenz, Logan Str 22-40-31 //Sw

Carrell, Wanda J. to Rank, Steven Str 15-40-31 //Se

Smalley, Larry Gene to Van Voorst Enterprises, Llc Lt 1 Bl 6 Thompsons Addn

Martin, Linda F to Beisly, Connie Lt 4 Lynwood Estate

Beachner, Gayle J. (Trustee) to Stevens, Jason Str 12-41-30 //Nw

Light, Donald L. to Cella, Paul J. Str 20-42-29 //Nw

Pendergrass, Debra to Bartling, Nyle Str 12-41-32 //Ne

Morse, David A. to Jones, William K. Str 21-40-31 //Ne

Wilson, Lisa R to Haskins, Paul J Jr Lt 115 Adrian, Original Town Of+

Simons, Audra Carleen to Wright, R Todd Str 5-40-32 //Ne

Biggs, Sharron L to Biggs, Edward L Lt 11 Bl 2 Atkison Park Addn P3/10+

Tabor, Ronald D to Tabor, Ronald D Lt 10 Bl 39 Rich Hill, Original Town Of+

Askew, Cody Ray to Askew, Cody Ray Str 17-42-29 //Sw

Yunger, Piper R. (Trustee) to Thompson, William J Lt 2 Bl 10 Butler, Original Town Of

Lowe, Sandra K. (Trustee) to Shadfar, Siavash Trust 04-28-2014 Str 19-42-33

Lowe, James E. (Trustee) to Shadfar, Siavash Trust 04-28-2014 Str 19-42-33

Csm Foreclosure Trustee Corp to Bank Of New York Mellon The (Suc Trustee) Lt 10 Bl 18 Amoret, Original Town Of+

Porter, Nicolas B. (Trustee) to Citizens Bank Of Amsterdam Lt 4 Bl 6 Reese’s Addn+

Morris, Lurenda L. (Trustee) to Lockard, Alan Lt 2 Bl 24 Butler, Original Town Of

Roberts, Lynnda M. (Trustee) to Umstattd, Kevin (TRUSTEE) STR 30-41-29

Marriage License

Fischer, Hagen Lowell and Ryan, Brooklyn Nicole

Hubbard, Kenneth Wayne and Lewis, Shanna May

Smith, Joshua Lee and Baumann, Lacey Amanda

Ghai, Kartik and Brooks, Jessica Renee

Ragan, Michael Tyler and Bailey, Mary Virginia

Pilot Numbers Decline in Stats

What's Up by Leroy Cook

The strong winds blowing a couple of thousand feet overhead last weekend spelled trouble for pilots. The Kansas City terminal forecast for Saturday night showed 45-knot (52 mph) winds from the southwest at 2000 feet above the ground; it was right on the money. Fortunately, the ground winds were only about half that. 

Seen in the airport area last week were a pair of Cessna Skylanes, a Piper Cherokee and a Cirrus SR-20. Mike Golden was down from New Century in his Cessna Turbo Centurion. Out of the local hangars, Brandt Hall had his Lark Commander up, Roy and Vicky Conley flew their Grumman Tr2, I made a photo run in the Cessna Skyhawk, and Lance Dirks and Jeffery Adams polished their skills in Cessna 150 flights. The SkyDive KC King Air made several jump runs when the winds allowed. Orvine and I took the Cessna 172 over to St. Louis Saturday, logging 1:40 elapsed time on the way over, 2:10 on the way back.

In St. Louis, I ran into a gentleman who owns a restored Aeronca L-16, like the one the Butler Civil Air Patrol squadron had here in the early 1960s. His is outfitted with some of the L-16B features like an enlarged tail fin and a supplemental wing fuel tank that can replenish the 13 gallon nose tank. He’s had it to the Oshkosh airshow several times, which is an all-day journey at 80 mph. His pristine bird puts to shame our old Champ that Christian Tucker and I were flying Thursday evening. 

One of the on-line newsletters last week had a segment about aviation statistics from the last 20 years that was rather interesting. Safety numbers are much improved, flight activity is trending up after a dip for the Covid crisis last year, and the average age of the piston-engine fleet is now about 40 years. The most interesting factoid was the decline in Private pilot numbers; there are now actually more Airline Transport pilots than privates. That will be changing, as student starts are up and the ATP is now a lot harder to get than it was 20 years ago.

Going through an ancient box of 35mm slides, I recently came across some photos of the old Flight Service Station, which stood where the memorial park is now located, beside the south drive. There are only a few other buildings in the background, as development had yet to take off 60 years ago. Surprisingly, the color in the old slides has held up pretty well; makes you wonder if the digital prints of today will still be as bright six decades from now.

Last week’s brain-teaser question wanted to know the meaning of the “GR” abbreviation in terminal weather reports displayed on the computerized weather readouts. It stands for “grauple”, what we used to call sleet, for frozen ice droplets falling from cold cumulus clouds. It’s a French term, foisted upon us by the globalists who think we need to adopt International references for FAA use. Now, for next week, tell us why the BBC introduced its newscasts with a dit-dit-dit-dah tone during World War 2. You can send your answer to kochhaus1@gmail.com.

The Museum Minute: Adrian Could Use Some Paint

Courtesy of the Bates County Museum 802 Elks Drive, Butler Mo 64730 (660) 679-0134

Herrman’s Historical Happenings week of October 13

1898 The Crescent Hill Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star is organized, Mrs India Hoover, worthy matron, Adrian.

1904 Mrs Greathouse goes ‘Carrie Nation’ again, smashing a Rockville saloons windows, then her meek husband follows her home.

1905 The editor of the Adrian Journal newspaper, J.E. Dowell, prints “The paint brush could be used to advantage on many buildings around Adrian and the investment would be a paying one, besides making Adrian more attractive”.

1917 The Peoples Bank calf club is treated to dinner at the Ohio Street Methodist Church then 109 Holstein heifers are given to the boys & girls of the club.

1935 In Bates County during last night’s storm reported are: several stacks of hay, 10 barns or sheds, and 11 dead of livestock all struck by lightning.

1938 The Hentschel Construction Company of Springfield begins work on Butler’s new elementary school on the site of the old school which was torn down this Summer. Ohio and High streets.

1938 The young folks of the Ballard community give newlyweds Mr. & Mrs. Max Greer a charivari. The old folks were going to, too, but the hour was late when the Greer’s were finally cornered, and the old folks were sleepy.

1950 The J. C. Penney store, in Butler announces the grand reopening of their remodeled store, East end of the North side of the square.

1965 A meeting is held at the Citizens Bank of Amsterdam and Amsterdam Public Water District #11 is organized. Directors are E.J. Evens, Larry Shannon, John Ephland, Duane Walley, Harvey Addleman and James Curnutte- clerk.

1967 Edgar Lee Robertson, Secretary of the Bates County Historical Society, gives a talk on several historical events in Bates County’s past.

City Set to Deal With Unsafe Property

All members present for Butler’s regular city council meeting

Guest Tobi Markham approached the council with suggestions to provide more things for kids and parents to do, including a dog run/park and a splash pad at the park or the city lake. She also expressed concerns that raising water rates will greatly affect low income residents and wanted to know if there was a better way to warn residents when electricity will be shut off for any reason. The council promised to take her suggestions into consideration and will discuss more in upcoming sessions.

Following a councilmember suggestion, and then by unanimous vote it was decided to not charge late fees to those paying utility bills due to an anticipated slowdown of the US Postal service that was announced earlier this month. While the late fees are forgiven, bills are still due byOctober 20th to avoid disconnection. 

Two bills became ordinances- one regarding work at the airport that required rewording to satisfy MoDot; the other was an update to a city ordinance regarding disciplinary procedures and appeals of disciplinary actions. In short, that update now mirrors state law.

Police Chief Jarret Wheatly reported that issues with the dispatch radio console are becoming critical. The unit allows the Butler police department to not only dispatch Butler police, but also several local fire departments. Lately it has rendered itself inoperable at times which is unacceptable in terms of safety. It’s a complicated piece of equipment, the current unit is old, and the replacement price quoted several years back was close to $70,000. The council asked Wheatly to get current bids and report back at the next meeting.

City clerk Corey Snead reported that while the city currently gets local bank bids for the city every two years, he suggested moving that to four years as it is a complicated process that is quite time consuming and there is no real savings benefit using the two year window. At any rate, bids will be submitted by local banks over the next few weeks.

The new playground equipment is finally being installed at Sunset Park. While the equipment was donated several years back, there were various delays that kept the project from being done and everything should be completed by the end of the month. It was also noted that the remodel work at city hall is nearly complete; unfortunately at the time of this writing, city hall is closed due to covid concerns for the foreseeable future.

Concerns about the condition of a house in the 300 block of West Pine street were discussed at length. There is one occupant living in the home that has a large hole in the roof, no utilities and raw sewage in the yard. While the city is sympathetic to the person living there, it appears action will need to be taken to condemn the property. 

Again discussed was safe passage for bicyclists and pedestrians traveling on Fort Scott street under the railroad overpass. While the city is at an impasse with the railroad on bettering the situation, it was suggested that better lighting on each side of the overpass could help especially during the morning and evening. Cost for doing such will be assessed and discussed at the upcoming meeting.

The city is planning another town hall meeting on October 21, 6:00 pm at Happy Hill Church. Topics to be discussed will include the American Rescue Plan Act as the city will receive $800,000.00; water rate increase; street projects and airport projects. The public is HIGHLY ENCOURAGED to attend as the town hall meeting is an informal event where the public can voice concerns and ideas openly to the council.

The Butler city council meets regularly at 7 pm on the first and third Tuesdays at city hall and the public is highly encouraged to attend.

Obituary - Jane B. Tolley

Jane B. Tolley, 88, Harrisonville, Missouri departed this life on Monday, October 11, 2021 at her home.

She is survived by three sons, James Tolley, Joe Tolley and wife Nikki, John Tolley and wife Maria; two daughters, Nancylee Stewart Pugh and husband Cary, Deborah Bowles and husband Corbin; several grandchildren and great-grandchildren; a sisters, Carolyn Richardson; other relatives and many friends.

Cremation. Inurnment will take place at a later date with her husband at the Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside, California.

Family suggests memorial contributions may be made to the Amedisys Foundation through Amedisys Hospice, 3854 American Way, Suite A, Baton Rouge, LA 70816 or mailed to Dickey Funeral Home, P.O. Box 432, Harrisonville, MO 64701.

A complete obituary will be posted when it becomes available.

Non-Injury semi truck accident south of Butler

The Missouri State Highway Patrol is on scene of a semi truck accident on I-49 near mile marker 127 which is south of Butler at this time.

The driver of the semi truck wasn't injured in this accident and several crews are on scene working to clean up.

Please use caution and slow down in this area! 

Thunderstorm Timeline Tonight - Wed AM

We've got several chances for strong storms this evening and overnight into tomorrow morning. The first two rounds will be scattered in nature (not everyone will see storms) with gusty winds, small hail, and pockets of heavy rain possible.

This will all precede the main line of storms expected to move through the area from west to east Wednesday morning. That round will bring more widespread rainfall and have the best potential for strong winds.