Around Town: Sep. 11, 2024

By: Ernie Wren
Final reminder that the annual Hartsburg Apple Butter making event is this Fri. & Sat. and the Ashland Fall Fest is this Sat. at the city park.

In addition to the Ashland FFA Ag Day 5K “Race to the Trough”, AG Farmers Market following the race in the AG parking lot, annual car and bike show from 9am-1pm, “GAGA Ball Tournament” 9am-3pm, “Best Dressed Dog Contest” at 10:30am at the doggie park, 12-1pm pumpkin decorating for kids at the large shelter, a large bevy of vendors, food options, and local organizations set up for your consideration. Thanks again to the challenging work of the Park Board volunteers, Public Works Department, and everyone else who makes this possible.

Around Town has recently witnessed a bit of an unusual level of law enforcement activities. First, we had the sentencing of an “undocumented immigrant” worker (abc17) from Ashland sentenced to 50 years in prison for the 2021 stabbing death of Moises Hernandez-Sanchez. Another law enforcement activity that was a bit out of the usual, was that of an APD arrest of a man who later died in custody of the Boone County Sheriff’s department.

Recently, the Boone County Journal reported that, “In a recent Ashland Board of Aldermen meeting, Chief Scott Young of the Ashland Police Department (APD) requested the city approve a mutual aid agreement with the Boone County Sheriff’s Department (BCSD) which would allow APD to initiate law enforcement action outside the city limits. Young says that his officers sometimes encounter residents driving at excessive speeds close to or right outside the city limits and are unable to initiate a traffic stop due to questions of jurisdictional boundaries, specifically down 63, Route Y, Route H, and Route M.” This too provoked some supportive, and non-supportive, discussions around town.

My perspective as someone who first went to MU in 1980 when Columbia was relatively safe (being able to bar hop on weekends up and down Broadway until 2am in the morning, or so I’ve heard!), and watching Columbia evolve into a the level of crimes it has today, I think we can learn a lesson from Columbia.

For too many years a former police chief in Columbia denied the influx of crime from STL and KC until it was too late and too much. Two of the three arrests in last week’s Boone County Journal came from out of town (Columbia and STL). Being able to protect our gateways along Highway 63 and assist other departments in urgent situations is an initiative-taking approach and kudos to the APD and city council for knowing that with growth comes growing pains that need to be addressed.

The Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival is coming up on Sat. & Sun., Oct. 12 & 13. “With the tradition of community, family, and friends. The Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival began in 1991 as a celebration of the pumpkin and the promotion for the village of Hartsburg. In those days, and to the present, Hartsburg was known as “Missouri’s Pumpkin Patch.” (Hartsburgpumpkinfest.com).