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| Congratulations to Clinton Probationary Firefighter, Matthew Montaleone, for successfully completing our Probationary Firefighter Training Program. Firefighter Montaleone is assigned as the firefighter on B Shift where his main role will be to carry out fire suppression and medical assignments given by his shift Captain. Firefighter Montaleone will now enter into the departments step up driver/operator program. Congratulations Matthew! |
Monday, March 20, 2023
Clinton Fire Department Promotions
Garage fire in Nevada
Engine 212 Rescue 214 and truck 210 responded with 5 total off duty firefighters! Fire was extinguished and overhaul was done.
Thank you to Milo and Compton Junction for Mutual Aid and Vernon County Ambulance and NPD as well!
Courtesy of Nevada Fire Chief Troy Denney
Obituary - George Washington Osborn, Jr.
He married the love of his life, Joanne Greer, on November 17, 1954. He started his married life working for a ranch in Adrian, Missouri. In November 1959, they moved to Gardner, Kansas where he rented his own farm across the road from his widowed aunt so that he could take care of her. In those early years, he did what he could to take care of his family including digging graves.
He did so well with the farming and soil conservation that he won several farming awards in Johnson, Miami, and Linn counties. In 1967, he bought his own farm outside of Drexel, Missouri, (on the Kansas side) and moved his family there and started a large hog operation along with the farming. In 1988, he and Joanne moved further south to the Blue Mound, Kansas area where he enjoyed farming row crops and not worrying about pigs and cattle. George was a member of the St. John’s United Methodist Church in Ft. Scott. He enjoyed traveling with his wife, Joanne when the farming schedule allowed.
George was preceded in death by his parents and all of his siblings and his youngest son, Doug.
He is survived by his wife, Joanne, of sixty-eight years, his daughter, Ruth Benson (Randy) of Webb City, Missouri and son, Pete Osborn of Beaver, Ohio. Also surviving are two grandsons, Randall Benson (Stephanie) of Kansas City, Missouri and Jonathan Benson (Kari) of Kailua, Hawaii (USAF) and three great-granddaughters, Kathy, Alyssa and Clara of Kansas City, Missouri.
Rev. Jim Brackett will conduct funeral services at 2:00 P.M. Wednesday, March 22nd at the Cheney Witt Chapel. Burial will follow in the Memory Gardens Cemetery.
The family will receive friends from 1:00 P.M. until service time at the Cheney Witt Chapel. Memorials are suggested to the American Heart Association and may be left in care of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, P.O. Box 347, Ft. Scott, KS 66701. Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.
Rich Hill Tigers Track Preview by Cody Morris
Excitement surrounding Tiger Track is nothing new, as Coach reminds us that “Rich Hill has a rich history of track and field going back 25 plus years”, and the success continued last year as well. Damon said that the Tigers had “a great building year with a young team”. And that young team was able to see some success as Damon went on to say “we had a sophomore medal in pole vault at state, and two relays qualify for state on the boys side. We also had our girls 4x400 and 4x800 relays make it to sectionals”.
The Tigers numbers are outstanding this year as many students are looking to help carry the reputation of the program. The team will see many returning faces as well as some new ones, as coach informs us, “we have a large number of underclassmen this year with a handful of great seniors that have been in the program since JR high. Everyone has a role in the program whether it is a freshman that is a new face and is going to push someone to get better, or a returning state medalist who looks to finish higher than they did last year. We have a really good sophomore group that is really eager to make some major improvement this year and will help make all of our relays better. Our throwers are young, but they are on the verge of showing their potential. We also have a great group of freshmen who are going to push them in the years to come on the boy’s side. We only have one Sr. girl and we only lost one girl from last year, so we have high hopes that our relays will improve over last year’s success.”
Coach Damon continued to speak a little bit about the challenges that may present themselves this year for the Tigers. He talked briefly about just the normal early season muscle weakness that is a common struggle, as well as the fact that they still have one lady who is still recovering from a basketball injury. Damon seems hopeful that if his team can stay healthy, they will give any team in the conference if they can remain healthy. The WEMO Conference that the Tigers are a part of is one of the better track conferences in the state when it comes to class 1 & 2, whoever, the Tigers look to compete in every match. Damon commented, “I think that we will have a good showing if we stay healthy. In the sport of track and field is the absolute most important thing. On the boy’s side we have multiple returning Conference Champions that hope to repeat. The girls are planning on concentrating on their relays, and hope to improve their finishes from last year. Our district assignments have not been released yet, so not sure how we stack up there yet. Districts are always our main target as far as the season goes, because without a great showing at districts the season is over.”
Excitement is coming in bunches for this Tigers Track team, Damon said, “To be honest I am always excited for track season. Seeing all of the kiddos improve in speed, strength, and attitude is what it’s all about. If we have any success beyond that it’s just a plus. However, every year each athlete writes down to personal and two team goals and turns them in to us coaches, so there might be some bigger goals to reach.”
The Tigers will kick off their track schedule on March 23rd in Butler.
The Museum Minute: First Class schools
Courtesy of the Bates County Museum 802 Elks Drive, Butler Mo 64730 (660) 679-0134
Herrman’s Historical Happenings week of March 22
1889 “The Local News” newspaper begins publication located upstairs at the Farmers Bank in Butler.
1930 First Class high schools in Bates Co are: Adrian, Amoret, Amsterdam, Ballard, Butler, Foster, Hume, Johnstown and Rich Hill.
1932 Ike Skelton, of Lexington, is in Butler seeking support for his nomination of Attorney General of Missouri.
1940 Work begins on the all weather from Butler to Spruce.
1940 Bates Co population stands at 19,531 showing a steady decline since 1890 when it was 32,223. (16,105 as of 2021).
1962 J.C. Penney store holds a grand opening following an extensive remodeling, North side of the Butler square.
1974 Jerry King, local dairyman & first chairman of the new Bates County Fair, is the Butler Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year.
1980 C. A. Moore Jr, editor of the Bates County news Headliner newspaper is named Butler Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year.
2002 Larry Garrett says his company is planning to film a movie “A Fourth of July Christmas” in Butler soon.
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Alderman face monumental task in dealing with old pipes
Adrian city administrator Ryan Wescote reported that cleanup continues for operations at city hall- he said that the city previously had some 40 bank accounts and he was glad to report that they have been consolidated down to two. One, an ARPA account as required by law and the other for all of city business. He also reported Adrian has been approved for a firefighter matching grant of $40,000 total; he was also pleased to announce the city’s web site is now set up to accept credit card payments as well as similar payments in the office. Next on his agenda is to meet with all department heads in upcoming days to fine tune the city budget and this will come with the option for the public to observe with a date to be announced soon. He said physical cleanup around city hall has been ongoing as well, as of late some 2,700 lbs of old, uneeded documents have been professionally shredded which feed up needed storage space.
Installation of new water meters is ongoing and nearly complete with some 150 yet to be put in place. The new meters will certainly solve inaccurate reading problems and will easily integrate with the city’s new accounting system. It was also noted that those having trouble paying their water bill, there is money available, up to $750 that can help. Contact city hall for more info.
Tom Williams addressed the council with important information about what lies ahead regarding lead and copper pipes in the water system. He said that the EPA (via Mo DNR) is wanting an ‘inventory’ (documentation) of all such piping in town and that will be easier to verify on the city side; however documenting such on the residential side will be a nightmare. For example, if the homeowner does not know what type of pipes are within the residence the EPA want city officials to come into the home for an inspection “And that’s where the ugly part is going to come in” he said. “While on the worksheets you’re allowed to put ‘unknown’, the problem is if you put too many of those on there it’ll throw red flags all over the place”. He went on to say that “We’re gonna get hit hard with this” and emphasized city is going to face a major headache getting it all done.
Wescote interjected with a little good news, the city has been awarded a $200,000 grant to help pay for this documentation and on the residential side, it must be done by an independent contractor which would take the burden off the city. While Williams concurred that is a good thing, he did say that doing just the city side will still be a major undertaking.
Williams went on to say that will be a great benefit, however just documenting the city side will be a major undertaking by iteself as the deadline is just a year or so away. He also noted this project is just documentation but most likely will turn into regulation that will require action soon down the road.
A bid of $14,000 for haying the pasture was accepted along with a bid of $4,000 for the hay field. Both are three year contracts.
Wescote gave an update on installation of new water meters and it this point the project is coming to close as only about 150 meters are yet to be installed. Accuracy of the new meters coupled with the city’s new accounting/billing software should streamline everything and with that, the city is set up to accept credit card payments on line as well as in person.
Madison Touchstone has accepted position of city attorney. As she lives closer (Raymore, Mo) it made sense to replace associate Sarah Oldridge who lives in North Kansas City. The council welcomed her on board.
A company has offered to purchase the city water system and as attractive as that might be financially, the council is of the opinion that the city would lose control of rates, among other things. Mark Williams advised the group that the city of Clinton, Mo did sell out and are not happy with the outcome. With that, Mayor Cunningham says Adrian will say thanks, but no thanks to it or any future offers.
A discussion branched into taxes and the April 4 ballot which prompted a response from alderman Bridges who recently attended a meeting regarding the Bates county ambulance tax. He says he doesn’t think this particular tax would be beneficial and more thought should have been devoted by the hospital before putting it on the ballot. His main concern is the money going into the general fund where it could be used for other things; why should we pay for something we are already getting; and Adrian generally has a minimum 15 minute response time, why should we pay more for that. He made it clear that the ambulance service is much needed but would advise everyone vote no until a better plan could be proposed.
The Adrian Board of Alderman meet on the second Monday of the month, 7 pm at city hall and the public is highly encouraged to attend. As a courtesy, Mid America Live will provide video coverage of the meetings and can be found on YouTube, search for the Mid America Live channel.
What's Up by LeRoy Cook
Ready for a warm-Up
Winter started early last year, and it hung on until the bitter end, gusty winds thwarting most flying plans over the weekend. Even if we could handle the wind, it wasn’t worth the pain of fighting the wind chill. With spring’s arrival this week, things are supposed to warm up, although the March winds remain a problem.
Transient travelers coming through last week included a Cirrus SR22 Gen 2, a Beech Musketeer, a Cessna Skyhawk and a Piper Archer. Jason Bohnert flew down from Harrisonville in his Cessna Skylane. Locally, CFI Christian Tucker took a Cessna 150 to New Century, Jerry Burns exercised his gyrocopter and Jon Laughlin had his Piper Cherokee 180C out.
If you’re embolded to aviate this Saturday, there’s a free BBQ being offered all day at Springfield’s Downtown Airport (3DW). The long-established little airport, famous for the TV tower on the premises and crosswinds on its east-west runway, is under the new management of Fulltron Aviation and they are having a Grand Opening party. Slide in under the Class C airspace to check them out.
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Coming up next week is the big Sun ‘N Fun fly-in at Lakeland, Florida, starting Tuesday the 28th and running through April 2nd. It’s always a warm-up destination for winter-weary pilots on the East Coast, kicking off the year’s fly-in season, kind of a half-scale Oshkosh show. Former Butler residents Dave and Deb Hopkins will welcome you for a visit if you go to the show.
The Jack Brown Seaplane Base, located next door at Winter Haven, FL, took a tragic hit last week when one of its famous yellow Piper Cub floatplanes collided in flight with a Piper Cherokee over the lake. All aboard perished and the resident alligators guarded the debris. For over 50 years, pilots have come from all over the world to obtain their seaplane rating at Browns, usually uneventfully over a long weekend.
The weekly brain teaser in our previous column asked “which type of aircraft gets the most miles per gallon?” The answer we were fishing for was “a sailplane”, because the only fuel gliders use is that burned by the tow plane that pulls them up to get started. Updrafts power them for free in good soaring conditions. For next time, which U.S. airline makes much of its own jet fuel instead of buying it on the open market? Send your answers to kochhaus1@gmail.com.
Bates County Real Estate Transfers and Marriage Licenses
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Crumpley, Michele J to Crumpley, Michele J. Lt 1 Town Company’s Second Addn
Kiger, Steven W to Recinos, Victor Lt 7 Bl 3 Town Company’s First Addn+
Glass, Timothy R. to Glass, Lacy A. Lt 12 Deer Creek Lake 1 Thru 21
Brattin, Olen to Brattin Family Trust 03-06-2023 Str 3-39-33 //Se+
Laird, Bradley Scott to G & L Ranch LLC Str 30-39-33 //Ne
Watkins, Kandy to Watkins, Jayce T. Str 25-39-32 //Nw
Watkins, Jayce T. to Watkins, Kandy Str 25-39-32 //Nw
Hutchens, Matthew P. to Hutchens, Matthew P. (Trustee) Str 25-42-32 //Nw
James, Jerry to Becker, Matthew Str 33-40-29
Nichols, Cyrus W to Pullen, Shelby L Lt 7 Bl 129 Town Company’s Third Addn+
Fletcher, Kent to Brown, Jeremy Lt 5 Bl 63 Rich Hill, Original Town Of+
Hettinger, Shawna to Van Blaricon, Edward Str 8-42-33 //Se
Stigall, Dakota to Austin, Ryan Bl 20 Littles Addn
Marriage License: None
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