CHARLENE KOEHN Charlene Koehn, 66, Rich Hill, MO died Feb. 20, 2011. Funeral services, 10:30 a.m. Wed., Feb. 23, Bethany Mennonite Church, Rich Hill, MO. Visitation, 6-8 p.m., Tues, at the church. Burial, Bethany Mennonite Cemetery. Rich Hill. Arrangements, Schowengerdt Funeral Chapel (660-679-6555) Butler, MO. Published in Kansas City Star on February 22, 2011
Read more: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/kansascity/obituary.aspx?n=charlene-koehn&pid=148783821#ixzz1F5TAwpY4

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The Butler Bear Backers have scheduled a coed Dodge Ball Tournament for February 19, 2011 at the Butler, MO High School Gym. See the above document for more information.

Here is the up to date forecast for Butler, MO.

My wife came home from the farm in Rich Hill today very excited and flipped to page 3 of the News Xpress, there on page 3 was a picture of the Nyhart School. She boasted "thats the one room school house my Grandma went to"!

Eager to share in the excitement and also curious about the fate of the school I dove into the article. I had heard stories of the famed Nyhart School and the annual get-together's that her family had participated in for years. We had driven through Nyhart, Mo  thousands of times on the way to the farm, and Pamela and I had actually tried to find the location of the school before.

Little did we know that the actual school did still exist and was now enshrined on the Bates County Museum Grounds on Elks Drive in Butler, MO. I did a Google search for photographs of Nyhart and the only pictures I found for Nyhart, MO were on this site, Bates County Real Estate.

May 7, 2011 will be the 110th Birthday Party of the Nyhart School, the museum has something special planned, we're gonna dig in the attic and see if we can find some old pictures of Grandma (Myrtle Dunsworth / Myrtle Wirt) at one of those reunions.

Enhanced 911

On 1/5/11 majority of the Bates County Office holders and representatives from the City of Butler met at the courthouse to discuss providing Enhanced 911 to the citizens of rural Bates County and upgrading the City of Butler’s current 911 equipment. Three issues were brought out during the meeting.

The first issue discussed was the increased volume of emergency calls the Sheriff’s Office receives. Currently when someone in the County dials 911, the calls are forwarded to the administrative lines and there is no way to know if it’s a 911 call or a regular call. The Sheriff pointed out that if someone calls in and doesn’t know their location, the responding emergency personnel search for the proverbial needle in the hay stack. This is also the case if someone calls 911 and cannot communicate verbally; there is no way to know where the call came from without Enhanced 911. Adding enhanced 911 would allow for the system to capture the location the call is made from and forward that information to the needed services. This system also includes locating the 911 calls that are made from cell phones. In the event that a farmer is injured in the field he can call 911 and the system would secure his GPS location and that location would be auto-populated and his location dispatch to emergency service personnel. This improves response time for fire services, ambulance services and law enforcement services. Currently the Sheriff’s Office is averaging 600 calls for service a month and of those calls the Sheriff projects that at least 40 would have utilized the E911 system if it was in place.

The second issue discussed was the need for the City of Butler to upgrade their antiquated 911 system. Chief Garnett first began working on replacing his system in early 2010 when the phone company advised him that there were no parts available to repair his system when it fails. The City’s 911 system was purchased around 15 years ago and the City has provided E911 to the citizens that live within the city limits without a tax to fund it.

The Third issue was how Enhanced 911 would be funded. Sheriff Anderson and Chief Garnett have been researching the possibility of purchasing equipment that would serve both the County’s needs and the City of Butler’s needs. They presented a case that showed by teaming together (city and county) and purchasing a system together there would be substantial savings versus purchasing separately.

While all the office holders and city officials in attendance agreed that E911 was a benefit and needed throughout the county, the discussion turned to how the system would be funded. It was proposed that Bates County’s portion of the hardware and software would be purchased out of existing funds from general revenue and the yearly database maintenance expenses would be maintained from the existing Law Enforcement Funds. This would mean that all county residence would be provided Enhanced 911 without the need for additional taxes.

Sheriff Anderson states that his research shows that 911 first became available in the United Stated in 1968 after a push from the United Association of Fire Chiefs, Presidents Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice. Since then generations of people have been raised on the theory that if you need help in an emergency then you just dial 9-1-1. The research also shows that 96% of the United States has Enhanced 911, which automatically gives dispatch the caller’s location.

Sheriff Anderson also pointed out that in 2009 the Sheriff’s Office joined together with four other counties to receive a grant to upgrade the reporting system for the Sheriff’s Office. With that grant each patrol vehicle in his fleet was equipped with a laptop computer with Global Positioning Systems. This system was designed to be integrated with a E911 system so that when the dispatch receives a call on 911 it auto-populates the call to the system and then pin-points that emergency call on the Deputy’s in car computer. This allows the Deputy to pull up the call and see it on a map so he can find the shortest route possible to respond to the call. The system also helps with resource allocation. When a 911 call comes in and the system pin points that call on the map then dispatchers can see the location of the Deputies and send the closest unit to the call, improving the response time for a call for help.

Sheriff Anderson says “I am excited to see all the Elected County Officials come together and work diligently to improve the quality of life for our Citizens and to be able to offer better life saving services to the citizens without asking for any additional taxes. I feel this is why the citizens have elected us to be their voice in government.”

While major steps have been taken to move forward to bring Bates County Enhanced 911 there are many things that still need to be taken care of. No definitive decision was made at the meeting but a goal was set to move to the next stage of planning for this project. This project if supported by the public may take up to a year to have in place and implemented.

January 14, 2011 here are all the residential listings from the MLS that are available in Bates County, MO as to this date. This list changes daily, contact us if you want an updated list.

We finally have news that the long anticipated Walmart Supercenter will soon be under construction in Butler. Exciting as this news is we must also ask, what does that mean for other retailers in the area. The new site is rumored to be a 100,000 square foot facility on 15 acres at W. Fort Scott St. and Fran Ave. It is scheduled to open in October of 2011.

Most of us love our Country Mart and many of us frequent other small retailers in Butler and the surrounding communities. Does the new Supercenter with its grocery market mark the end of our beloved County Mart, I hope not.

While some bemoan the coming of the behemoth supercenter, others welcome it as a sign of progress. Looking at other nearby communities where similar events have transpired we often see a short term vacancy problem with the large big box stores that were there before, it is easy to point to those and say what will happen to our town with all this vacant property.

The truth is that often in a few short years growth continues and those old mothballed retail centers find a new use. The current Family Center in Butler sat vacant for some time before it became the vital resource it is now. In towns like Raytown, Mo the former Walmart is now being considered as a spot for a new Sutherlands Lumber store. As many of you know the new Sutherlands in Harrisonville is a wonderful shopping experience and a great asset to the community. When the old Walmart in Raytown closed, so did the neighboring Hy-Vee not to pack up and leave, but to move to a new bigger, better facility close to the newly constructed Walmart Supercenter in Raytown.

Many years ago Belton, Mo also lost a Walmart store, the new Walmart was bigger and better and over the years the old location was transformed into another useful and productive business for the community of Belton, MO.

I have worked for many years with commercial real estate, while most folks tend to think in terms of next month large commercial deals are more on the scale of the next several years. While the old Walmart building in Butler may face vacancy for some time, the fact is that it is a ripe opportunity for the right investor to develop it for future growth. With the coming of the new Interstate 49 and the passing away of MO Highway 71 many things will change in Bates County, it won't take weeks or even months; it will take years or even generations.

The new Butler Walmart Supercenter will bring new jobs and perhaps cause the short-term loss of some of the things we love about our community, but in the long run Butler and Bates County will thrive and be better and stronger for it. Don's Tire will survive and thrive on the service model they have lived by for ages, others will find a niche and fill a need and it will all come out for the better.

Competition is good, many good things come of it. Our country was founded on the principles of hard work and self reliance, the folks of Bates County will absorb this growth and be blessed by it. The winds of change are blowing and change can be good, or not so good it is all up to you and how you receive it.

God bless and have a wonderful 2011!