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Volume 104 • Number 56 • Monday, March 24, 2014 • PO Box 188 • 111 E. Jenkins • Maryville, MO
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BJ bank robbery suspects identified
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Joseph O’Neill
Travis Davis
Donald Kestner
told reporters at a Friday afternoon press conference that the three suspects were taken into custody about two hours after the holdup following a pursuit involving both vehicles and a foot search that ended in a wooded area just south of the Iowa line. Nodaway County authorities identified the suspects Saturday as Joseph O’Neill,
26, Mount Pleasant, Iowa; Travis Davis, 27, of Fort Dodge, Iowa; and Donald Kestner, 26, also of Mount Pleasant. All three men have been charged with felony first-degree robbery and armed criminal action and were being held in lieu of $100,000 bond. Citizen assistance proved key in making the arrests,
10,000, weapons still missing
By TONY BROWN News editor
Citizen’s Bank & Trust in Burlington Junction was robbed at gunpoint at approximately 11:15 a.m. Friday. The alleged robbers are in jail, but the $10,000 with which they fled remains missing as do the weapon or weapons used in the holdup. Sheriff Darren White
See ROBBERY, Page 6
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Here’s what happened
Sheriff Darren White speaks to reporters during a press conference Friday following the arrest of three suspects who allegedly robbed the Citizen’s Bank & Trust branch in Burlington Junction earlier that day. The robbers, who committed the holdup at gunpoint, made away with $10,000 and led officers on a two-hour chase that ended near the Iowa line.
County ponders solar panels as energy option By KEVIN BIRDSELL Staff writer
With the popularity of solar energy gaining ground across the country, the Nodaway County Commission has started looking into the possibility of installing solar panels on its buildings. At this point, the threemember commission is just taking a preliminary look at the idea. No formal plan is in place. “If it’s feasible and cuts
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Under close watch
Sheriff’s deputies and Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers kept a close watch over Conception Abbey last week following alleged threats made in Skidmore by a man linked to ominous Internet postings aimed at police officers. Security measures were put in place at both the abbey and nearby Jefferson C-123 School, but the man disappeared and no incidents were reported.
Threats prompt increased security at school, abbey By TONY BROWN News editor
A somewhat mysterious man with an alleged penchant for threatening police officers led officials at Conception Abbey and Jefferson C-123 School to beef up security late last week. Spokespersons at both institutions said the precautions fell short of a full lockdown, and that the monks at the abbey and students at the school continued to carry out their regular
routines. However, entry doors were locked, and Nodaway County sheriff’s deputies and Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers kept watch over both campuses then beefed up patrols in the area overnight Thursday. Sheriff Darren White said Friday that the suspect, who has not been arrested, allegedly made threatening remarks directed at peace officers while at a gas station in Skidmore. “He wanted to know where the abbey was, and said he was going to kill
OFFICE NUMBER
660-562-2424
some cops and stuff like that,” said White, adding that the man drove off in a car bearing Oregon plates. The remark about the abbey was ominous because two monks were shot to death there in 2002 by 71-yearold Lloyd Robert Jeffress, who then turned one of his two rifles on himself When law enforcement learned about the threats, they immediately contacted the abbey and the nearby school, both of which sit along Highway 136 about 15 miles east of See THREATS, Page 6
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ministration Center, the road and bridge maintenance complex and the Nodaway County jail. One of the commissioners recently acquired some hands-on experience with solar energy. Robert Stiens, who represents the South District, had panels installed at his home last spring. “We put ours on in March or April of last year,” Stiens said. “From June until November, we never had a bill.
In 2013, the jail, maintenance garage and Administration Center paid a total of $63,000 for electricity. our electrical use and our expenses it will be something we will look into,” Presiding Commissioner Robert Schieber said. For now, according to North District Commissioner Robert Westfall, the governing board plans to compile a record of a year’s worth of kilowatt usage at each of the buildings that might be equipped with panels. “From there, (a solar company would) decide how many panels you need, and we’ve got to know if we’ve got a place to put them,” Schieber said. “They will have to check out our roof and see if that will work.” The buildings under consideration for solar include the Nodaway County Ad-
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It took care of all of it. When the sun didn’t shine as long during the winter days, with our electric heat, we had a bill. It helped some, but it doesn’t totally take care of it.” But it does take care of some of it. And in 2013, the jail, maintenance garage and Administration Center paid a total of $63,000 for electricity. “You have a two-way meter,” Stiens said. “It goes one way when you’re buying and the other way when you’re selling, and there are two readouts on it.” On March 19, the commission met with Georgia Wiederholt of Green Energy, who has offered to run the numbers on the county’s See COUNTY, Page 6
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