LOCAL NEWSPAGE 10 THE DAILY STAR-JOURNAL, WARRENSBURG, MO., TUESDAY, DEC. 18, 2012

Continued from Page 1for this person. Nor do these numbers include loss of productivity, lost work time and the overall cost to society.”

Huge medical debts can exceed insur-ance, she said.

“When you don’t wear your seat belt and you get in a crash, whether you have health insurance or not, your insurance can tap out. If you’re self-paid, if you’re on Medicaid, if you’re a Medicare-payer source, who pays for that? It’s the tax-payer who’s paying for that and it’s not just your injuries,” Holt said. “When you go to a hospital, and you get care for a brain injury or a spinal cord injury, you’re in the ICU – you have multiple broken bones because you didn’t have a seat belt on. Those costs can push upwards of $1 million for a spinal cord injury, and you have the long-term dis-abling injury that is going to cost you for the rest of your life, not just in medica-tion and treatment. …

“Can you go back to work? If you can’t be a producing member of society, then who supports you? Who supports your family? Where does that money come from?”

Missouri needs a primary seat belt law and a larger fine, Holt said. Failure to wear a seat belt is a “secondary” infraction in Missouri, meaning the police cannot pull over someone just for failure to wear a seat belt. Only if com-mitting another driving infraction can a person receive a ticket for not wearing a seat belt, but even when that occurs the fine is just $10, Holt said.

State Sen. Joseph Keaveny prefiled legislation for 2013 to raise the seat belt

fine to $50, but the bill would continue to make the violation secondary.

“Seat belts are one of the best ways to help prevent serious injury in an auto-mobile accident — studies show that seat belts can help reduce the risk of fatal injury by as much as 45 percent,” Keaveny stated. “If we implement higher fines for seat belt violations, more Mis-sourians would be encouraged to buckle up, thus preventing tragic outcomes in traffic accidents.”

Keaveny said Monday he does not believe Senate Bill 82 – at least the third incarnation of two previous failed bills he offered on the topic – would have any chance of passage if he pushed for a pri-mary infraction.

“I couldn’t even get it out of com-mittee,” he said. “You’ll hear from one group that it’s a civil liberties issue and you should be able to drive your car any way you see fit.”

When Keaveny filed his first bill, pas-sage could have meant an additional $16 million in federal revenue for the state, he said, but the bill received so much state opposition that he had to back away. Keaveny, who represents part of St. Louis, said minorities fear the law would give police another reason to pull them over as a cover for “racial profiling.”

Still another group, Keaveny said, focuses on money.

“There’s another contingent that says it’s just a sneaky way to raise revenue,” he said.

Seven of nine people killed this year in motor vehicle wrecks on Johnson County roads failed to wear seat belts.

Seat belts save lives, reducedrain on government’s funds

J.C. VENTIMIGLIA/Star-Journal

JOHNSON COUNTY Ambulance District personnel work to save the life of Travis Arnold, 24, War-rensburg, following his ejection during a rollover wreck on U.S. 50 about 9:35 p.m. Friday, May 4. A Life Flight helicopter carries Arnold in serious condition to Research Medical Center, Kansas City. Arnold survives, but two passengers do not. None wore a seat belt.

Warrensburg – Failure to wear seat belts played a prominent role in seven deaths and at least four severe injuries involving Johnson Countians this year, and a conviction for a man whose pas-senger died in 2011.

• March 31: Wayne J. Russell, 29, Clinton, lost control of a 1994 Jeep Wran-gler while driving south on Missouri Route 13, near Route JJ, about eight miles south of Warrensburg. The vehicle overturned several times and ejected Russell, who died.

• April 18: A motorist rear-ended a Jeep Cherokee on U.S. 50, near Sky-haven Conoco, and in the process of rolling over, the Jeep ejected the driver, Crystal Mefford, 34, Centerview, but

that did not amount to the worst of the situation that occurred on a dry, sunny day: The Jeep landed on top of Mefford, who required hospitalization.

• April 23: With the sun shining and road dry, Barbara L. Adams, 59, War-rensburg, drove a 2002 Chevrolet van north on Highway 23 near Route WW and lost control. The van went down, then up a ditch, tore through a barbed-wire fence and came to rest in a farm field, causing injuries that required a helicopter to fly her to a hospital.

• May 4, the 2000 Mitsubishi driven by Travis M. Arnold, 24, wrecked, claiming the lives of passengers Jacob D. Netz, 18, and Malcolm Thomas, 19, and leaving Arnold in serious condi-

tion. The Highway Patrol reported none of the three Warrensburg men wore a seat belt – momentum ejected all three occupants.

• May 28, Mason Kyle Cunningham, 21, Warrensburg, died in a wreck on U.S. 50, one mile west of Missouri Route 87, just outside California in Moniteau County.

• May 29, Circuit Judge Jacqueline Cook sentenced Loren Albert Page Jr., 21, to five years of supervised proba-tion, following the July 5, 2011, wreck on Route U near the intersection of South-west 1171st Road, which resulted in the death of passenger, Randall Harbison Jr., 20, who ejected from the truck.

• Sept. 23: The Highway Patrol reported

Brandon M. Morrow, 27, drove “east-bound in the westbound lanes of U.S. 50, causing a head-on collision on U.S. 50 at Northwest 191st Road, near Skyhaven Airport, that resulted in his death and serious injuries to three Lee’s Summit residents, at least one of whom did not wear a seat belt.

• Dec. 12: Mary E. Webb, 24, Holden, died as a passenger in a car driven by Bretton R. Ripley, 30, who allegedly drove drunk.

• Dec. 15: Ronald H. Nielsen, 52, Warrensburg, died at Research Medical Center after a train struck and totaled the 1997 Chevrolet he drove at 115th County Road, 108 feet southeast of U.S. 50.

More who fail to wear restraints die in county

Continued from Page 1a new book in about 10 minutes.

In addition to real estate companies, hunters and fishermen buy the books to keep current on land owners.

“They make great Christmas gifts,” he said.

Thompson said some people also buy

them for historical value.The books went on sale Monday.

Thompson said she had sold several by mid-afternoon.

Cost is $20 per book if bought in the office and $23 if mailed. Thompson said the rest of the 2011 books will be sold at a discounted price of $10.

Decision saves money for taxpayers

SUE STERLING/Star-Journal

JOHNSON COUNTY Assessor’s Office employees display the new plat books produced by the office. From left are real estate coordinator Norma Calhoon, GIS coordinator Monica Parker and Assessor Mark Reynolds.

Continued from Page 1packed to the brim. It is not fitting in with Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s standards being there in the portable learning cottage,” Superintendent Julie Dill said Monday.

Board President Rick Schmidli said security should be a top priority.

“In light of what has happened (at Sandy Hook Elementary School) we need to move security upgrades to the critical level,” he said.

Dill said the current security camera system is subpar.

“Right now we can only have one person viewing on one monitor in the office. I would like to see us get monitors in all the offices so multiple adminis-trators can be watching for something

going on,” she said.Sheriff Chuck Heiss invited the board

to the county jail to see what a “state-of-the-art camera system” can observe.

“I can view a license plate from about three-quarters of a mile away,” he said.

Schmidli said voters must approve the issue before the board can consider upgrades.

“There’s no point in seeking it unless we have the money to do it,” he said.

Schmidli asked Dill what would happen to district roofs if the issue fails.

“That’s a good question,” she said. “We have five roofs that need to be touched with this project. We are losing our buildings because of roofs. Right now there is no plan B.”

Board agrees to return tax issue to ballot

SUE STERLINGStar-Journal Staff Writer

Holden – The group trying to form a western Johnson County regional recre-ation district will solicit area organiza-tions to attend the Fun for All Fair on Feb. 9 at Haller Community Building.

Johnson County Economic Develop-ment Corp. Executive Director Tracy Brantner, who facilitates the group, said she received only two responses to a letter sent after the November meeting.

The fair is designed to bring together Chilhowee, Holden and Kingsville groups to provide information to the public about available activities and to allow participants to sign up for pro-grams. The group also will use the event to inform area residents about the pro-posed recreation district.

Tammy Aldredge, with the Kings-ville Recreation Program, said she would contact Kingsville area group leaders to promote participation.

“I think I can get Kingsville people to sign up,” she said.

Dennis Mason, representing Holden, said the sports association holds pro-grams at the Haller Building.

“They already do that. It’s just getting them to do it that day,” he said.

Both organizations “will be in the

midst of signups” for baseball, softball and soccer, Aldredge said.

Mason said an individual expressed an interest in the group sponsoring wellness activities and classes, such as tai chi. Brantner said doing so without a formal organization, which requires voter approval, would be difficult.

Mason said he thought getting sports involved in the organization “would be the easy part to get going” and then trails and other activities would be added.

Because of “a lot of reluctance” on the part of the sports groups, he said, a better place to focus would be activities that are not viewed as threatening

Brantner said they could form a non-profit group without organizing a recre-ation district under state statutes, which would not require a vote. She said they also could use an existing nonprofit organization to sponsor the classes.

“There’s already an interest,” Mason said. “We just need somebody to make it happen.

“We have to get momentum to make this a reality. If we look at other things, will that give us the momentum and energy?”

The next meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 21, at the Holden City Hall.

Group continues to workon rec district formation