Propane stove fire destroys home near Columbus

A home North of Columbus, Kansas is considered a total loss after it was gutted by a late night fire on Monday. (Photo courtesy: Columbus Fire Department)

COLUMBUS, Kans — Fire crews in Cherokee County where busy late last night, and into the early morning hours.

Around 8:15 p.m. Monday (10/17), a call came in about a structure fire near the intersection of Northwest Lawton Road and Kansas Highway 7, just North of Columbus. Columbus Fire Chief, Steven Burton says the male homeowner was lighting a propane stove when a fire broke out. It didn’t take long for flames to quickly spread through the entire house. Chief Burton said the homeowner was able to escape the fire, but suffered minor burns. The man rejected any medical treatment.

SLIDESHOW: View Photos From The Scene Of The House Fire

According to Chief Burton, the single-story home is a total loss. The intense fire took crews several hours to put out. Firefighters remained at the home until just after midnight (10/18), ensuring all hot spots were fully extinguished.

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The Columbus Fire Department called in mutual aid from Cherokee Township, Scammon, Weir and West Mineral to assist with the house fire.

One person airlifted after vehicle strikes pedestrian

(CourtesyGoogle Maps)

GALENA, Kans. — A vehicle strikes a pedestrian on a residential street in Galena, sending one person to a Joplin hospital.

It happened this evening (Tuesday, October 11th) near the intersection of East 22nd Street and South Wood Street.

Galena Police Chief, Billy Charles said the pedestrian was then airlifted to Freeman Hospital.

The extent of the injuries to either the pedestrian or the driver of the vehicle involved, are unknown at this time.

Galena Police are now investigating the incident.

This is a developing story, and we’ll have more information as it becomes available.

"Human side of the badge" shown by local police

BAXTER SPRINGS, Kans. — Several police departments in Southeast Kansas participate in a nationwide event meant to strengthen the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they protect.

The event is called “Faith and Blue.”

It began in 2020, following several high profile incidents across the United States, where residents of many cities called for the defunding or dismantling of their current policing system.

Out of that unrest, “Faith and Blue” was born, where law enforcement and faith-based leaders come together to unite the community with those who serve and protect.

That’s exactly what took place in Baxter Springs this evening, where a free cookout was held in Kiwanis Park for area residents and several police departments from Cherokee County.

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Baxter Springs Police Chief, Brian Henderson was among the crowd and says a good relationship between a community and their police department, centers around mutual respect.

“It’s important for us to be here as officers but also to show the human side of the badge. To show that we are humans, that we also make mistakes sometimes, sometimes we don’t do everything just right. But for us to own that and now to have people that would support us and go, ‘you know what, I know that person, I know them personally,’ and to be able to do that and have that support, it’s great.” said Chief Henderson.

More than 100 residents from Southeast Kansas showed up to the cookout, which wraps up a week of events centered around positive relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

How mini tractors are helping support FFA students

COLUMBUS, Kans. — Some mini tractors were put into motion today for a good cause. For almost two decades, the Columbus FFA Alumni Association hosts a fundraiser each year to raise funds for FFA student scholarships.

Today the event was held once again at the Saddle Club Arena.

The tractor pull featured ages from as young as four years old to those in their seventies.

There were over 100 pulls in seven different weight classes, where a mini tractor drags a sled weighing thousands of pounds down a dirt track. Winners are determined by the length of time it takes to get down the track.

Organizers say this event keeps growing each year with the goal of supporting FFA students as they head to college.

“Look at the cost of tuition now. I mean, even if they can buy $500 worth of books, I mean, that is a big stress off of them, that that is free money that is given to them by us,” said Bobby Mitchell, President, Columbus FFA Alumni Association.

Everything got started today around 1 p.m. and wrapped up after dark.

An ice cream social strengthened relationships between police officers and their community

BAXTER SPRINGS, Kans. — This weekend is nationally dedicated to strengthening the bond between communities and their police officers.

National Faith and Blue Weekend began in 2020 to encourage engagement between communities and their local police officers.

According to the National Faith and Blue Organization, over 600 law enforcement agencies, churches and community-based organizations hosted more than 1,000 in communities across 43 states in 2020.

And this evening, the Fellowship Baptist Church held an ice cream social for the Baxter Springs Police Department. The event gave officers a chance to talk one on one with community members.

“There is goodness in people and what better way than, as the church, to come out and show our men and women that we truly love them and we’re truly here to support them in any way that we can,” said Shane Dotson, Pastor, Fellowship Baptist Church.

“A lot of times, they just come up and shake our hands and pat us on the back and tell us they’re proud of us and you know, that’s one of the greatest things as a law enforcement officer for me and the people that work for me to hear is people just telling us that they’re proud of us and they’re proud of what the police department is doing in the City of Baxter,” said Chief Brian Henderson, Baxter Springs Police Department.

About 50 community members came out tonight to show their support.

From ancient Rome to the Sunflower State: the Southeast Kansas Regional Bocce Competition

COLUMBUS, Kans. — A unique sport that dates back to ancient Rome takes over a Special Olympics event.

The competition was fierce at the Southeast Kansas Regional Bocce Competition in Columbus.

The goal is to roll a bocce ball closest to the target ball. Students from Pittsburg, Girard, Caney, and Columbus high schools volunteered to join the “Unified” program for the sport.

It partners those students with an athlete that has a disability.

“It’s really important for the kids to come on out, have some fun, participate in sports, but then also to form these relationships. This sport in particular is called our unified sport, So we partner our athletes together with peers that don’t have disabilities, and they are able to form those relationships that go on for lifelong friendships,” said Erin Fletcher, Director of Grants & development Special Olympics Kansas.

Participation in this year’s event doubled from last year.

The next event for Special Olympics Kansas will be a bowling competition, on November 2nd in Pittsburg.

If you are interested in volunteering, you can do so here, on the Special Olympics Kansas website.

The Back the Badge fundraiser serves food to equip reserve officers

BAXTER SPRINGS, Ks. — Pulled pork BBQ sandwiches were the source of a good cause Saturday.

The Baxter Springs Police Department and Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office held the annual Back the Badge Fundraiser outside of American Bank. The group planned to feed 1,000 people.

Saturday’s menu included pulled pork sandwiches, chips and drinks.

This event helps fund all the necessary equipment for reserve police officers, who completely volunteer their time serving the community.

Without fundraisers like these, reserve officers have to pay for their own uniforms and equipment.

“These reserve officers, the men and women who serve in our reserve departments, they’re volunteers, they’re active members of the community, they want to give back and help out in way that they can,” said David Groves, Cherokee County Sheriff.

“To be able to communicate with the people they serve and the people actually get to meet the people that volunteer their time away from their families to help better their communities,” said Cory Moates, Commander, Cherokee County Reserves.

Law enforcement agents also took the time to recognize the reserve police officers and their service.

Some extra help for the Baxter Springs Police Department, in Reserve Officers.

BAXTER SPRINGS, Kans. — A Southeast Kansas community has some extra help for its police department.

“27 years ago I started as a reserve police officer here in Baxter Springs Kansas, so it has a very special place because from there, I built a career that has spanned the course of different departments to, you know, led to me retiring from Joplin Police Department to becoming Chief of the department I started at, so it’s very special,” said Brian Henderson, Chief of Police, BSPD.

And currently the Baxter Springs department has 10 fully-trained and completely volunteer-based reserve police officers, like Trina Hamiliton.

Hamilton also works as a full-time certified pharmacy technician while volunteering over 10 hours a month to the police department since 2014.

“I had always wanted to be a police officer, but I just never followed the footsteps, but when I married my husband, he had been in law enforcement for many years. And he suggested I should join the reserves, so I did. We can do transports, um, if we have events like, um, ‘Count Down Days’ or we have parades, we’re there to help assist in that. Or if, you know, some disaster comes down, we’re able to just come out and help with that,” said Trina Hamilton, Reserve BSPD Officer & Pharmacy Tech.

Chief Henderson says that because reserve officers have other careers, they bring a variety of expertise to law enforcement.

“So, what that does for us as an agency is it allows us to not only network with businesses where they work, but also network with people that come in and have contact with them on a daily basis and it allows just that much more support in the community,” said Henderson.

Reserve officers like Hamilton have to pay for their uniforms and equipment while still donating their time to the agency.

But to Hamilton, the reward is much greater than a badge or a title.

“I think the main reward is just helping people in the community, most definitely. Being there for them when they need us the most,” said Hamilton

On Saturday October 1st, the department is hosting the Back the Badge Fundraiser from 10am to 2pm at the police station.

For the purchase of a BBQ lunch, the proceeds will help fund the uniforms and equipment for future reserve officers.

Miner's Museum Special Collection

FRANKLIN, Kans. — New artifacts are on display at the Miners Hall Museum in Pittsburg.

The pieces come from the collection of Skip and Betty Urich, and were obtained through the Coleman Family Foundation.

All of the items are now at the museum and a small group of artifacts are already on display.

The rest of the items are being identified and recorded by the museum’s collections manager, Ron Pommier, with the help of Skip Urich.

That process could take some time to complete.

Urich says he obtained the artifacts through years of auctions, online searches, and other sales.

“Well that was always kind of the idea behind it was to get it where people could see it, you know, before it goes away. Because over 15 years, like I’ve said, used to be all the local, state sales would have some little artifact and now those days are gone,” said Skip Urich, Collector.

“It needs to be saved. It needs to be displayed. The young people now are amazed when they come in the museum that this thing was going on here a hundred years ago,” said Ron Pommier, Miners Museum Collection Manager.

Pommier estimates he’s logged about 57 artifacts so far, and there are still hundreds more to go.

Cherokee Co. crime numbers released

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Kans. — A southeast Kansas sheriff is crunching the numbers, after the release of crime stats statewide. Cherokee County Sheriff David Groves says violent crime is down slightly — both in his county and across Kansas. There’s also a decrease in rape, burglary, and theft cases. But other categories saw a rise last year.

“Also we had a 44% increase in aggravated assaults and batteries. So the crimes we are seeing are what we’re seeing nationwide. The incidents are more intense, more violent, and certainly more risk to the law enforcement officers that are responding to that type of calls,” said Cherokee Co Sheriff David Groves.

Groves adds he’s happy to see the drop in crime — and credits local deputies and police officers, as well as the communities they serve.