Posting of meeting minutes on social media not manditory

Minutes from the October 28, 2026 Bates County Commission meeting

The Bates County Commission met with Presiding Commissioner Jim Wheatley, Northern Commissioner John Gray and Southern Commissioner Trent Nelson present. Chris Gach was present for all meetings.

John sat down and stated that he wanted to speak with the Commission before he did anything. John explained that he received a summary from Steve Cohen on October 27th, 2026 and stated that he was ready to release it to the public, as well as the report that was done by Steve Cohen. Jim stated that he was worried about releasing the report, as it was done in closed session and their attorney, Ivan Schraeder, advised keeping it closed, but John and Jami reassured Jim that they spoke with another attorney and was told they could release the report and summary if the Commission voted to do so.

John made the motion to release the report done by Steve Cohen, as well as the summary received on October 27th, 2026. Trent seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion carried. No opposition.

John made the motion to authorize the Custodian of Record, Bates County Clerk Jami Page, to immediately release the report and the summary done by Steve Cohen. Trent seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion carried. No opposition.

Jami brought up a Sunshine Request that she received from Jon Dudley. She explained that the request was asking about signing in when attending the Commission meeting, how it was against the Sunshine Law and a request for the meeting minutes for October 26th, 2026. She informed them they had not been approved to be posted; therefore, she could not send them to him. Jon replied, wondering if the minutes were being held on purpose and stated that the minutes are usually always posted within forty-eight hours. Jami stated that was untrue and the Commission agreed. Jami also stated that her office is conducting an Election and have absentee voters in high demand. She then went on to explain that she spoke to her attorney about keeping record of who attends Commission meetings and was told that it was not against any Sunshine Law and encouraged them to continue taking record of such things. Posting meeting minutes to social media is a courtesy provided by the Clerk's Office and is not mandatory.

Jim stated that he was going to call Butler City Council and ask when they stopped keeping records of people in attendance, as Jon claimed he did not have to sign anything when attending them.

Jim contacted the City of Butler and was informed that City Council meetings have a sign in sheet for visitors but it is optional to sign in. If the city clerk knows the visitors that did not sing in, she notates their name on the sign in sheet.

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Regarding the election tomorrow

Mid America Live will be providing local up to the minute election results from the Bates County Clerk's office beginning just after 7 pm tomorrow night both on our Facebook page and here on the website.

Remember, it's your right and duty to vote!


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Local football this week

All games 7 pm Friday unless otherwise noted

Rich Hill (6-4)

Appleton City (8-1)

Archie (6-4)

Midway (7-2)

Sherwood (4-5)

Adrian (4-5)

Lone Jack (3-7)

Butler (7-3)

Nevada (6-4)

Seneca (7-2)

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Lady Bulldogs fight to the finish

Congratulations to the AC Lady Bulldogs on their 2nd Place finish in District Volleyball

"The growth these girls have shown throughout the season has been amazing! They have grown not only as players, but as teammates, learning to trust each other, overcome challenges, and fight for every point. While the season may not have ended the way we hoped, these girls have so much to be proud of! Their hard work, determination, and heart have made our entire Bulldog community proud."    

-Courtesy ACHS

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That's about par...

Four Lady Blackhawks Golfers Named 2026 MHSGCA Girls Golf Academic All-State

The Missouri High School Golf Coaches Association has recognized four Blackhawks who work hard and are committed to excellence both as students and athletes. Pictured are the 2026 MHSGCA Girls Golf Academic All-State recipients from AHS.  Left to right:  Junior Rylee O'Farrell, Senior Claire Newkirk, Senior Lily Hughes, and Junior Jacie Essenpries.

Academic All-State Qualification Criteria:

3.5 Non-Rounded, Non-Weighted Cumulative GPA OR 25 ACT Superscore OR 1200 SAT; Sophomore, Junior, or Senior in good standing with their team/school; and considered a Varsity golfer by the coach’s/school’s standards.

    -Picture by Derrick Elmer, MS Multimedia Class

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Eagles prevail in Hume

The Miami Jr. High Eagles took 1st place in the Hume tournament last week, making for a perfect season. Congratulations!


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Volleyball All-District Honorees

Class 2 District 13

1st Team All-District 

-Tandee Hiser: Butler 

-Kylee Dubray: Butler

-Grace Engeman: Adrian

-Daisey Fenton: Adrian

-Alexa Rodgers: Adrian

2nd Team All-District 

-Sydney Gach: Adrian

-Aubrey Rodgers: Adrian

-Kiersten Dubray: Butler

Honorable Mention

-Mykiah Felton: Sherwood

-Kadyn Cook: Butler 

Congratulations!

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What’s Up by LeRoy Cook

Whatever It Is, It’s Not Okay

Finally, we can fly at dawn without waiting interminably for DST sunrise. As of Sunday, we’re back on God’s Time, so there’s no flying after work unless you’re current for night flight. Don’t forget to check the airplane’s lights when preflighting, just in case you run late and have to land in the dark.

The out-of-towners observed on the Butler runway this week included a pair of Pipers, an Archer and a Cherokee 180, and Cirrus SR22. Les Gorden was in with his Cessna 340 twin and Mark Otter was down from Warrensburg in his Cessna 182. From the based fleet, Jim Ferguson flew his Cessna Skylane, Jeremie Platt exercised his Grumman Tiger, and Steve Koehn had the company Skyhawk up. 

We were saddened to learn of the too-soon passing of David Jennings last week. It seems like only yesterday that he was a student pilot here at Butler, in 1979, before he went to the Air Force. I enjoyed giving him his first 10 hours of flight training, little knowing that he would go on to become Captain Jennings at American Airlines. Our profound sympathies go out to his family; rest easy, Captain David.

On the national scene, our U.S. Air Force is contacting out some its services, like air-to-air refueling, and a private firm has purchased one of the retired KC-10 tankers stored in the boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona. Omega Aerial Refueling is refurbishing it and returning it to service along with its Boeing and Douglas tankers. The old boomers may as well be put back to work. 

In another NIMBY brouhaha, a Colorado pilot has been commuting from his house to his office, using an electric-powered Pipistrel Velis airplane to take off from his Jefferson County property and leap over traffic in 16 minutes to a suburban airport. Now the County objects, citing zoning violations; he used to use a helicopter for his trips, but that was ruled illegal, so his near-silent electric plane has been substituted. I imagine if he floated in and out a balloon, somebody would still object.

The Nacogdoches, Texas, airport is proposing “fueling fees” to crack down on pilots packing their own gas to their hangar instead of using the airport’s fuel farm. The practice is legal, under FAA grant assurances, but the airport wants to charge a $500 yearly permit plus 20-cents per each gallon self-imported. Some Rotex-engine sportplanes need to burn unleaded auto gas, and low-compression Continental and Lycoming motors can run on 91-octane as well. I guess flying gas in after filling up elsewhere would still be okay... 

In far-out flight, a recently-released photo shows China’s secret “space plane,” much like our retired Space Shuttle, operating in earth orbit. The picture was taken by a commercial satellite that does custom surveillance. It evidently is used to deploy satellites and other work, as a reusable alternative to one-way rockets, much like the USAF’s clandestine unmanned spacecraft. The layer of space in low-altitude orbit is rapidly filling up with various types of vehicles.

The question from last week’s column was about the 1935 twin-engine bombers developed by the Glenn L. Martin company (now Lockheed-Martin), the just-alike B-10 and B-12 that were soon replaced by Boeing and North American models. They were identical except for the engine type; the B-10 was Wright-powered and the B-12 used Pratt & Whitneys. For next week, what’s the difference between a fuel cell, fuel bay and fuel tank, all used to store fuel in an aircraft? You can send your answers to kochhaus1@gmail.com.

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