The City Economic Development Loan Committee voted Tuesday afternoon to continue talks about a request on behalf of the Forrest and Doris Sensenich Foundation to convert the former Wal-Mart building into a convention center.

The annual Wheeling Homecoming will be held on Monday, Labor Day and organizers say that everyone is welcome to bring their lawn chairs and enjoy a day full of fun, food and entertainment in the Wheeling City Park

The Friends of the Livingston County Library and the Chillicothe Area Arts Council have teamed up with funding and programming to bring master storyteller Loretta Washington to Chillicothe for a series of programs from Thursday, Sept. 9 to Sunday, Sept. 12.

St. Louis based Washington is recognized throughout Missouri for her workshops on storytelling, and for her masterfully crafted stories of American Folklore and African-American history. She has presented many workshops for the Missouri Humanities Council’s Read First program. Among her stories are those of her great-grandmother, Ellen, who was born into slavery in the Missouri Bootheel in 1853.

Chillicothe Police officers stand near one of the blocked entrances to Danner Park this (Thursday) morning while awaiting the arrival of bloodhounds from Western Missouri Correctional Center in Cameron, Mo. According to Police Chief Rick Knouse, Chillicothe Parks Department workers discovered ripped children’s clothing in one of the bathrooms just after 8:30 a.m. this morning. After the park was subsequently closed, law enforcement officials from the CPD, the Livingston County Sheriff’s Department, and the Missouri State Highway Patrol converged on the park to investigate. Knouse said the bloodhounds were going to be used to search the park for additional evidence or a person. Knouse said there was no blood on the clothes when they were found, but precautions were being taken to be on the safe side and officers were working with local schools to see which students were absent from school today. The park, Knouse said, will be closed while the investigation continues.

The Chillicothe Country Club is preparing the grounds for its second annual Smokin’ and Grillin’ Contest to be held Saturday, Sept. 11, by taking down the fencing and netting around the tennis courts as well as the game nets. Officials from the country club stated this morning (Thursday) that they were doing a general clean-up of the area before the event. The barbecue grills for the contest will be set up around the tennis court area Chautauqua weekend.

TRENTON — The former executive director of Green Hills Regional Planning Commission has filed a lawsuit against Green Hills Rural Development, Inc., several employees and former employees of the two organizations and the city of Chillicothe with the main focus of the suit being the sale of the shortline railroad from RDI to the city of Chillicothe.

The city’s Industrial Development Authority Board, which has been inactive for about three years, is reorganizing. Chillicothe City Council members on Monday approved Mayor Chuck Haney’s appointments of Charles Bigler, Mike Turner and Betty Preston Steele to the board. A fourth member has yet to be appointed but is expected to be named during the next regular meeting of the City Council.

Chillicothe Municipal Utilities line foreman Clint Campbell and lineman Larry Miller repair a power line at the southeast corner of Cherry and Polk streets Tuesday afternoon. The repair involved straightening a bracket that was bent during a storm. The work is part of CMU’s ongoing process of repairing and maintaining power lines and poles.

Members of the Liberty 4-H Club participated in a craft last (Tuesday) night outside of the Liberty 4-H Clubhouse during the club’s August meeting. The club will be conducting fundraisers and seeking grants this year to renovate the clubhouse, which was formerly used as a one-room school house. The first phase of the project, club leaders say, will likely involve working on the building’s foundation. The clubhouse is located south of Chillicothe near the junctions of U.S. Highway 65 and Route Z.

A panel comprised of representatives from the city of Chillicothe and Main Street Chillicothe is being formed to help the entities reach a decision about the future of the old vacant Leeper hotel building at the northwest corner of Webster and Washington streets.

Chillicothe officials backtracked on a proposal that would have increased the 2010 tax rate and pumped additional funds into city coffers but, instead, voted to keep the rate the same as last year.

Brandon Dennis, computer networking instructor at Grand River Technical School, was presented with the statewide MTTA Teacher of the Year Award at the summer Missouri Association of Career and Technical Education, and Missouri Trade and Technical Conference held in Springfield, July 26-29.

Dennis was nominated for the honor by GRTS instructors and fellow SkillsUSA advisors Vicky Duckworth and Lee Caughron, they report that, in just two years, Dennis has increased not only student numbers in the GRTS Networking program but also developed a new and challenging curriculum that complements the high school Computer Science Technology program.

Students enrolled in the Chillicothe R-2 ag program work on constructing lockers in the shop area of the new Litton Agricultural Educational Center this (Tuesday) morning as part of their ag construction class. All students enrolled in agriculture classes are members of the Chillicothe FFA, which has a whopping 250 member roster this year — the largest-ever.
 

Rusty Black, Chillicothe R-2 FFA ag instructor goes over FFA Review this (Tuesday) morning in the Litton Agriculture Education Center, located at the Litton Agri-Science Learning Center. During FFA Review, ag students are versed in general information about FFA, including the state’s FFA chapters and various state and area officers.

The old Leeper building is in poor but stable condition. That’s the conclusion in a report issued by the firm of Trabue, Hansen and Hinshaw Inc., of Columbia, Mo., which was hired by Main Street Chillicothe and Chillicothe Development Corp. to perform a visual observation of the general condition of the building.

A child waiting for the school bus was struck this morning at around 8 a.m. by a passing car in the area of Clay and Peacher streets.

This Friday, Sept. 3, will mark the last installment of the Tunes under the Moon summer concert series and everyone is invited to bring their lawn chairs to Silver Moon Plaza and enjoy the acoustic country sounds of Denver native Coles Whalen.

Chillicothe Parks and Recreation Department workers perform some edging work on a new sidewalk lining the west side of Gravesville Park this (Monday) morning. They and some workers from the city’s street department poured half of the planned 300-foot sidewalk before 10 a.m. The remaining portion of the sidewalk will be poured later in the week.

Susan Keller, elementary art instructor, tells kindergarten students how to begin their art project — making school buses — this (Monday) morning at Dewey School. The students had to convert black square pieces of construction paper to circles to make the wheels of their buses.

Local competitors in the Missouri River 340 race completed their 340-mile paddling journey which began in Kansas City last Tuesday and ended in St. Charles on Thursday.

The team comprised of Rolfe McCoy, of Chillicothe, and Deron Sugg, of Carrollton, finished Thursday morning clocking in at 49 hours. The team of James Morgan, of Chillicothe,  and former Chillicothe resident Bryan Prewitt, now of Albany, completed just before midnight Thursday after 63 hours, 56 minutes since the race’s start.