Mid America Live

Sunday, January 26, 2025

Lady Bears Round 2 From Stockton

On Thursday Night (1/23) your 6th seeded Butler Lady Bears were back in action in the Stockton Tournament. In this round, the Bears faced off against the #7 seed Lamar Lady Tigers.

Lamar won the tip, and drew first blood, scoring on the opening possession. A scoop and score from Tourtillot answered back for the Lady Bears and sparked an 8-0 run in favor of Butler. After a much needed time-out called by Lamar, Heckadon drove to the basket and earned herself a trip to the charity stripe where she went 1 of 2 to end the Butler run. With 30 seconds left in the opening period, Wiss knocked down a triple to pull the Tigers within 7, but with time expiring, Georgia McCoun would answer back with a deep ball of her own, for the Bears.

To open the second quarter, Taylor Hudson rolled in a layup for the Bears off an assist from Gabby Carmichael which led to a 6-1 run in favor of Butler. For much of the period the Tigers and Bears would trade blows, until Clover would knock down a deep ball to spark a 4-2 Bears run to close out the half. The Butler Bears took a 29-16 lead into the locker room.

In the second half, Lamar would again strike first as Heckadon drilled home a triple, after which both teams would swap blows for the remainder of the quarter. By the start of the 4th, the Tigers drew back within 10, with a 38-28 score at the end of 3.

In the 4th, the Lady Tigers would again score first, as McCulloch went 1-2 from the line to pull Lamar within 9 with 7 minutes remaining in regulation. To open the quarter the Tigers would outscore the Bears 6-2 to close the gap with a score of 40-34, and force Butler to burn a time out. Out of the Bears time-out, Heckadon drilled another 3 ball to stretch the Lamar run to 9-2 and bring the tigers within 3. Hackadon would then go the line where she knocked down a pair to bring the Tigers within one with a score of 40-39 with 4 and a half minutes to play. McCulloch then hit an inside basket to give the Tigers their first lead of the night with under 3 minutes to play. Carmichael answered for the Bears to go back up 44-43. At the 2 minute mark, Cook made a pair of free throws to spark a 9-5 run to close out the game and give the Bears a 53-48 victory.

The Bears were led by Carmichael with 17 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 assists. Dubray ended her night with 13 points and 7 rebounds. McCoun and Cook both put up 6 points as well.

The Bears will move on to play Stockton on Saturday. GO BEARS!

Photo by Erin Dubray, story by Cody Morris, Tailgate TV

Butler Wrestling Brings Home 3 Conference Champs

On Thursday the Bears traveled to Warsaw to wrestle in the Ozark Highlands Conference. Damian Alkire (144lb), Kellen Long (150lb), AND Karli Patrick left Warsaw as Conference Champions.

The Bears men, as a team, finished 3rd.

The rest of the results are as follows:

113- Phineas Goertz 2nd

165- Able Bryan 2nd

190- Hunter Long 2nd

126- Mayan Pajula 3rd

285- Chris Castro 2nd

157- Dauda Woolace 3rd

215- Logan Fuller 6th

The ladies, the results are as follows:

Karli Patrick – 1st

Adalynn Bedwell – 3rd

Elizabeth Bedwell – 4th

Courtesy Cody Morris, Tailgate TV

Police chase ends with arrest in Cass county

Thursday evening just after 6 p.m., deputies with the Criminal Apprehension Unit attempted to stop a vehicle near Commercial St. in Harrisonville.

The vehicle fled and began traveling northbound on I-49.
A pursuit ensued, with deputies successfully deploying a tire deflation near the North Cass Parkway Exit. The driver continued going northbound, even though his front passenger tire was missing.

Deputies were able to successfully deploy the grappler after the vehicle exited on 87th St. just east of I-435 in Kansas City.
The driver was taken into custody without further incident.
He has been identified as 21-year-old Blaze Beck of Grandview.
Beck had active warrants out of Bates County, Kansas City, Missouri and Archie at the time of his arrest.

Beck is currently being held at the Cass County Jail with charges from this incident pending.

BCMH Honors Kathleen Bunch for 17 Years of Volunteer Service

Bates County Memorial Hospital (BCMH) is proud to honor Kathleen Bunch for her 17 years of dedicated volunteer service with the BCMH Auxiliary. Kathleen retired after contributing more than 4,870 hours of service to the hospital, working at both the information desk and the gift shop. Her commitment and hard work were truly invaluable to the Auxiliary and the hospital.

During her time as a volunteer, Kathleen also served in various leadership roles, most recently as the Treasurer of the General Fund on the Auxiliary Executive Committee.

Kathleen's background as an accountant and her experience managing a print shop in the Kansas City area were vital assets in her volunteer work. She also has a long history of community service, having served as a Campfire volunteer and leader during her daughter’s youth, eventually becoming the Regional Director for the Kansas City, Mo., Area Council of Campfire Girls (now Campfire, Inc.).
Kathleen and her husband, Ted, moved to Butler in 2001 after retiring. They became active members of Butler First Christian Church, where Kathleen later served as an elder. She firmly believes in the power of community involvement as a way to make new connections and friends, which is what initially inspired her to volunteer at BCMH.

Reflecting on her volunteer work, Kathleen shares, “You make a lot of new friends. When I first moved here, the only people I knew were from church. Through volunteering at the hospital, I met people from all over the county. That’s how I met Dee.”

Dee Hall, a fellow volunteer, introduced Kathleen to the Sonshine Ladies, a sewing circle that creates handmade items for BCMH patients, local nursing homes, hospice, and individuals in need. One year, the group created an incredible 1,500 items. Kathleen continues to be an active member of the group, which still meets every Friday morning. The volunteers also enjoy playing dominoes and sharing lunch on Wednesdays.

Kathleen says, “I’ve enjoyed working at the hospital. It gave me a chance to be out with the public and to meet people. When I became vice president of the Auxiliary, I had the opportunity to attend conferences and meet other women, and it made me appreciate the close-knit community we have here.”

The employees, staff, and board of directors at BCMH extend their deepest gratitude to Kathleen for her 17 years of selfless service to both the hospital and the community. Her dedication and kindness will always be remembered.

Saturday, January 25, 2025

Lawsuit filed regarding alleged former power plant contamination near Montrose

According to Missouri CaseNet, a lawsuit has been filed in the Henry County Circuit Court dated January 17 by landowners William (Bill) and Sue Steward of Clinton, Mo. The Stewards are represented by attorney Thomas Joseph Preuss of Leewood, Kansas and co-council Brian Joseph Madden of Kansas City, Mo.

Statements made by Bill Steward in a recent Henry County commission meeting, testing indicates higher than acceptable levels of toxic heavy metals and other contaminates which has forced his family to relocate from the property. Steward contends that fly ash dumping nearby on the former Montrose power plant property is the cause of the contamination and it appears likely more suits will follow.

Defendants named in the case are Evergy Metro Inc. of Kansas City; Sutton Trucking of Lees Summit; Kansas City Fly Ash of Dallas, TX and Kissick Construction of Kansas City.

Public meeting scheduled regarding Montrose contamination issue

From the Henry County Missouri Office of Emergency Management:

"Update on the fly ash/contamination issue. Evergy contacted the Commissioners office to request a meeting to address this issue. Rather than meet with them during our regular meeting schedule when so many residents are not able to attend, we stipulated that we would be willing to meet, but that the public will be invited and given the opportunity to speak, ask questions, etc.

This issue potentially effects the entire County and people have a right to speak directly with Evergy. The open meeting will be held Monday night at 6:30 pm at the Benson Center, 1008 E Sedalia Ave in Clinton. As you probably know, the County itself has no actual authority to stay or stop the dumping. But we do have the ability to make noise, demand answers, make the public aware, contact every agency, elected representative, local resources and not stop until someone, somewhere takes this seriously. I would ask that anyone attending, please be mindful and respectful of all participants.

This is a very emotional situation and tempers can run high....I understand that for sure. But if we can stay focused and understand that this is one step of many...."