Letters to the Editor

 

All,
I am a customer of Public Water Supply #5 out of Adrian, Mo. at the end of the water line on county road 9004 in Bates County. I have had a problem with brown dirty water coming from the water district’s water line for over two years. This water supplies my home and outside hydrants and have mentioned this on occasion to water district representatives. There is a valve at the end of every water line to flush the the sediment and contamination out of the lines. In June of 2020 I was told by a reliable source the valve would not open completely thus restricting the flow. The speed of the water is what removes contamination from the water line. These valves are over forty years old and it needed to be replaced. The valve was never replaced. 

  The dirty water coming to my home and hydrants was an intermittent problem so I started buying water to drink. The dirty water was easy to see coming out of hydrants but more difficult in the house due to the aeration from the faucets. I have a video of the dirty water coming out of a well used hydrant. Three people have witnessed this problem and in December of 2022 a neighbor was here and opened a hydrant and out came dirty water and a white stringy substance. About a week later I took a sample out of this hydrant to Blue Valley Labs in Kansas City for an analysis and the lab report showed the chlorine which is put in the water to kill bacteria was non existence and there was living bacteria in the sample. The lab technician incubated the bacteria and it grew. She sent me a video of the living bacteria from under a microscope and advised me to not drink the water. She could not identify it and sent it a lab in Omaha and they also could not identify it.

 Since the water district didn’t seem concerned the DNR has a website call Drinking Water Watch. The DNR is worthless and was told by one of their representatives they have no authority over water districts and I would probably have to hire an attorney to fix this problem. 

 The DNR came to my home in December to witness a sample being taken. The sample came back clean as did another sample the district took. 

This is an intermittent problem but I have three witnesses and a video to verify it.

 I went to a January board meeting of the water district with a proposal to pay for replacing the valve at a cost of $1850 and pay for the water to flush the lines to my satisfaction.  The board president Steve Smith said they had two clean test. I said I had a test and witnesses of the dirty water and since I was using the water I was going by my test results. All the board members were there. I got no response. I went back to the February board meeting and only Steve Smith was there with their attorney. The attorney said if they accepted my offer it would look as if I had control of the board.  The answer was no to my offer. 

 During all of this Brian Smith the water district employee had taken videos of him flushing the line. He sent these videos to the DNR in Lee’s Summit. I asked to see the videos and the DNR told me they were property of the water district and I was not to see them. I got my state representative involved and through the sunshine law they sent the videos to me. The videos showed the restricted flow. I sent the videos to people in the Plumbing business and they laughed at them and said the district employee should know it was defective. 

 I hired Sage Law out of Overland Park to represent me in this matter. After some research they talked with the water district’s attorney and the valve got replaced. The attorney fee was $3300 and I  also spent over $500 on water sample testing.  The board is weak and cannot address these issues. This is how much it cost me to do their job for them.

 The board members are: 

Steve Smith, President; Carl Ferguson,  member; Lonnie Duckworth, member; Allen Sollars, member

These flush valves are the end of every water line throughout the district. They are over 40 years old and I took pictures of mine after it was removed and it was a chunk of rust. How many more people have an unsafe water supply in district 5 in Bates County? The board of directors are controlled by the employee who is the son of Steve Smith the board president. The board did what was easiest for them, which was nothing. This can’t go on since they have control of the public drinking water supply.                                      

                                                                      Jim Robinson, Butler, MO

Butler Senior Center menu

 

Recipe of the Week

 

Bates County real estate transfers and marriage licenses

 

Winsatt, Randy L. to Big D Properties LLC Str 4-41-31 //Ne

Otter, Kimberly S to Callahan, Trent Douglas Str 18-40-29 //Ne

Petric, Kyle to Menzel, Michael A. Jr. Str 10-41-30 //Ne

Welston, Emilia to Perkins, Hayley Lt 61 Country South

Rife, Shannon D. to Wilson, Grant Str 29-42-33 //Ne

Dodd, Cathylene to Dodd, Cathylene (Trustee) Lt 2 Bl 11 West Side Addn+

Jackson, Douglas A to Whyde, Randy A Str 15-42-33 //Se

Osborne, James to Osborne, Randelle Str 32-42-30 //Ne

Bowers, Raymond L to Cook, Gary W. Trust 05-22-2018 Str 28-40-32 //Se

Diehl, Dwight to Diehl, Byron Garrison Str 17-41-31 //Ne

Davis, Jerry Wayne Trust 02-08-2012 to Davis, Ritchie J Str 15-42-30 //Sw

Best, Justin Scott to Kesse, Dawn Renee Str 6-38-32 //Sw

Cai, Degaun to Turner, Travis Nathan Lt 115 Country South Ext. #1+

Kershner, Justin T to Stuart, Katherine H Lt 11 Country North Subd

Ellis Estates, LLC to CCB Holdings, LLC Lt 3 Park South Subd+

Hohne Family Trust 12-12-2019 to WR Land Company LLC Str 18-39-33

Dry Creek Construction LLC to Grimes, Randall Lt 1 Bl 5 William’s Addn

Millsap & Singer to PHH Mortgage Corp Lt 2 Bl 1 South Drexel+

Nitsche Family Trust 6-10-2009 to Molina, Ana P Str 22-40-31 //Se

Rivera, Frances Elaine Trust 08-01-2014 to Arbuckle, Chris R Lt 62 Adrian, Original Town Of+

Hall, Debra A. to Hall, Debra A. Trust 05-15-2023 Str 17-39-32 //Ne

Diehl, Byron Garrison to Diehl, Byron Garrison Str 17-41-31 //Ne

Spencer, Ruth to Cannon, Virgil D Lt 4 Bl 16 Littles Addn+

Klinksick, Chadley Ray to Crawford’s Legacy Farms LLC Lt 39 Prairie City, Original Town Of

Hankins, Keri to LRWS, LLC Bl 113 Town Company’s First Addn+

Marriage license

Melhuish, Richard Lee Jr and Heller, Ashley Brooke

Vanhorn, Corey Dallas and Reinhart, Andrea Marie

Pavelac, Preston Michael and Williams, Mickayla Grace

The Museum Minute: Billfold falls from the skies?

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

Herrman’s Historical Happenings week of June 7

1858 General Parsons, of Harrisonville, has organized four units of the Bates County Home Guards, to protect the border.

1879 General Ewing, who’s Order #11 to burn everything in Bates & Cass counties is running for Governor in Ohio.

1906 Three masked burglars go to great extent to break into the Butler railroad depot and blow open the safe, only to get away with $40.

1917 Sparks from the wheels of a train set fire to the home of Judge Farrell in Hume.

1945 A billfold that apparently fell from an airplane in route from Dallas to St. Louis is found on the Butler square. It is returned to the rightful owner by a 12 year old who collects a $25 reward for his honesty.

1962 The Bethel Retirement Home, formerly the old Butler hospital, advertises rates at $65 a month.

1972 Editor Clyde Thomas of the Drexel Star newspaper prints “Today it costs as much to amuse a child as it did to educate his father.”

1999 The new Rich Hill Youth Development facility, which will house 24 teenage boys, is complete. There are 31 employees at the site on North old 71 highway.

The Bates County Museum is open for tours and events. Call 660-679-0134 for info.

What's Up by LeRoy Cook

 

News Of the Weird

Regular as clockwork, every afternoon last week we could depend on cumulus buildups growing into thunderstorms around the midwestern landscape. One could fly until noon or so, but after that it would depend on where you were; cross-country flying was going to be a challenge.

One of the posters covering the cracks in my office wall reads “Lack of planning on YOUR part does not constitute an emergency on MY part”. Thus it was over the holiday weekend when an “out of gas” sign was pasted on the pump at the Butler airport. We had to divert thirsty planes to Harrisonville or Nevada until a refill activated the pump on Friday. Sorry ‘bout that. Like I’ve always said, never land somewhere to fill up without having sufficient fuel to reach an alternate; you never know. 

Visitors observed during last week were a big Cessna 414 Chancellor executive twin, a Piper Twin Comanche, a Cessna Skylane, and some assorted Piper Cherokee derivatives. Local uplifts were conducted by Gerald Bauer in a Cessna 150, meself in the Aeronca Champ, Jon Laughlin in his Piper Cherokee 180C and various others.

Pay attention to the Notices To Air Missions if heading up to Kansas City’s Wheeler Downtown airport this week. It was supposed to be finished by the time you read this, but if pavement work hits a snag, the airport may be closed to all fixed-wing traffic. The job involves milling and resurfacing runway 17/35 but also closes runway 4/22 because of the intersection of the two. Night work is supposed to allow daylight operation as an alternative. 

There ought to be a standing NOTAM to “beware of aerial weirdness” on all commercial airline flights. I don’t know what the phase of the Moon is, but there was the recent Korean Air incident when a guy opened an overwing emergency exit during a landing approach, giving everyone a breezy few moments. And a stowaway on a Frontier flight last Friday climbed over the airport fence to hide himself in a wheel well, a good way to get crushed by retracting wheels or frozen solid aloft. And some Ugly American on an Air Canada flight on Saturday got belligerent and broke out of restraints, so a pile of passengers had to convince him to behave until he could be handed over to the Mounties. 

Washington D.C., of course, has its own standards of weirdness. It was recently pointed out to me that the FAA says we’re no longer supposed to speak of people taking flight instruction as “students.” We must now call them “learners” because terming them a student is somehow wounding their tender psyche. Now, I’ve been a student of aviation all of my life, and I’m kinda proud of it. I encourage others to do likewise; if you ain’t learning, you’re dying.

The weekly question was a two-fer, about the World War II Corsair fighter plane; why did it have its inverted gull wing AND what tire company built it, as well its parent Chance Vought firm. Well, the bent wing was so the big prop could clear the deck without impractically long landing gear, and it was Goodyear that built the FG-1 version. For next time, tell us how many tires were on the prototype Convair B-36 bomber’s maingear  You can send your answers to kochhaus1@gmail.com.

This week's News-Shopper word search

 Feel free to download and print a copy!

Flip through this week's News-Shopper!

 Follow this link to flip through the pages https://online.fliphtml5.com/xgttb/tudf/