Record breaker | Kearney’s Callie Schwarzenbach surpasses personal, school bests | PAGE B1
Building boom Residential, commercial development going strong PAGE C1
C OU R I E R T R I BU N E
Thursday, JANUARY 25, 2018
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LEADERSHIP CHANGE
Fire chief out in Smithville BY AMANDA LUBINSKI
Fire Protection District announced at their Tuesday, Jan. 23, meeting that Board Secretary and Treasurer Greg Atkins had resigned his position and that the board had reached a separation of employment agreement with
amanda.lubinski@mycouriertribune.com
SMITHVILLE — In a move that received audience applause from district patrons in attendance, leaders of the Smithville Area
Board member Atkins resigns Chief John Callahan. News of the shakeup came earlier in the day when Atkins left a sealed envelope with Acting Chief Dave
APRIL BALLOT
Cline. The board received the letter as it entered an executive session before the public meeting that night, with Board President
Debbie Childress making the announcement in open session. In the three-sentence letter dated Jan. 23, Atkins wrote that due to recent medical issues, he would not be in attendance at the evening’s
HEALTH
Liberty council puts use tax on April ballot
Mosaic to close clinics in Kearney, Excelsior Springs
Tide Pod challenge a dangerous game
BY AMANDA LUBINSKI amanda.lubinski@mycouriertribune.com
rumor is, no one can do it. It can also result in a trip to the doctor. Now, we are seeing the Tide Pod challenge. This is a dare young people have embraced that leads
KEARNEY — After saying on Jan. 8 clinic locations in Kearney and Excelsior Springs would operate “for now” in a “business-as-usual fashion” after selling off the six other metro-area clinics in its holdings, Mosaic Life Care representatives now say both the Kearney and Excelsior Springs locations will close effective March 2. “Patients of these two facilities will be notified in the coming weeks so they have as much time as possible to find a new provider. Mosaic built a thriving Northland health clinic business, but these two clinics represented a small percentage of the total Mosaic patient visits,” said Mosaic’s media relations coordinator, Joey Austin, in a Wednesday, Jan. 17, email to the Courier-Tribune. Austin did not say how many patients were typically seen at the Kearney location, but that only 5 to 10 percent of Mosaic’s total Northland clinic patients were seen at either
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kellie.houx@mycouriertribune.com
BALLOT/Page A8
SEAN ROBERTS/Staff Photo
Tide Pods, water-soluble packets of liquid laundry detergent, come in child-safe packaging, whether in a tub or a child-proof resealable plastic bag.
Keep out of reach of teens BY SEAN ROBERTS sean.roberts@mycouriertribune.com
CLAY COUNTY — First we saw the eraser game. If you could list words beginning with letters from A to Z while someone used a pencil eraser
on the back of your hand, you’d probably earn yourself a trip to the doctor to bandage it up. Next was the cinnamon challenge. You take a spoonful of cinnamon and see how long it takes for you to swallow. The
NEW FACILITY
Liberty Hospital opens its first primary care clinic west of I-35 in Kansas City North BY KELLIE HOUX kellie.houx@mycouriertribune.com
KANSAS CITY — Liberty Hospital Primary Care Shoal Creek opened Monday, Jan. 22, with two physicians and one nurse practitioner: Dr. Abbey Oshel, Dr. Brad Garstang and Melanie Palma. This is Liberty Hospital’s first primary care clinic on the west side of Interstate 35 in the Northland. Liberty Hospital Urgent Care Shoal Creek opened in January 2016 at 8300 N. Church Road in Kansas City. On Thursday, Jan. 18, an open house brought in friends and family to celebrate the KELLIE HOUX/Staff Photo new space, located on the top floor of the building that This exam rooms at Liberty Hospital Primary Care Shoal Creek have ample room for a patient
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HEALTH CARE
BY KELLIE HOUX LIBERTY —The Liberty City Council voted unanimously Monday, Jan. 22, to put a use tax question on the April 3 ballot. The tax will be assessed at the same rate as the total local city sales tax rate, currently 3.375 percent. If the question is approved, if the local sales tax rate is ever reduced or raised by voter approval, the use tax rate also would be reduced or increased by the same amount. A use tax is placed on goods purchased out of the state for use in Liberty and is applied at the same rate as the local sales tax. Shoppers will never be charged both for the same purchase. Councilman Paul Genness said the use tax proposal had his enthusiastic support. “The funds generated from the use tax will go to basic services and what the citizens need
meeting and that he was resigning his seat on the board effective immediately. “I sincerely wish the very best to all parties and your continued efforts to
and doctor. The new clinic is at the corner of Missouri Highway 152 and Shoal Creek Parkway in Kansas City.
TRAFFIC UPGRADES
Public gets first look at I-35 bridge improvements BY KELLIE HOUX kellie.houx@mycouriertribune.com
LIBERTY — The future of Kansas Street and the bridge over Interstate 35 will most likely begin with the implosion of the existing bridge and three to four months of construction on a new, wider bridge with dedicated lanes turning lanes on a separate, smaller bridge. Demolition is anticipated the first weekend after Memorial Day 2019. The project, including the improvements along Kansas Street, will cost about $30 million. I-35/Page A8
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Index Classifieds .....................................C3 Obituaries...................................... A4 Out & About Calendar..........B7 & B8 Puzzles...........................................B6 Sports............................................ B1 Voices ............................................ A6