Holden mayor Mike Wakeman has decided to give up his bid to overturn the 2007 decision rendered by the Circuit Court of Johnson County to remove him from office.
He made his intentions known to the Holden Image after the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District refused a motion to transfer his case to the Missouri Supreme Court.  The appellate court had found against Wakeman and upheld the Johnson County court’s verdict last November.
Wakeman and his attorney Karl Timmerman weighed the merits of continuing the appeal process in filing directly with Missouri’s highest  court, but decided the cost would be too high.  Wakeman was expected to resign at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
“It’s been a true pleasure serving the citizens of Holden for the past nearly three years as their mayor, but there comes a point when the monetary costs are too high to continue,” Mayor Wakeman told the Holden Image.
The sticking point on petitioning the Supreme Court directly, according to the attorney Timmerman, are the necessary criteria.
“In order to go directly to the court, there has to be a question of general interest throughout the state, a conflict between two or more courts of appeals, or a dissenting opinion within a court’s decision,” Timmerman explained.  “Since none of those fit, we had to decide whether carrying it further was of such import that the court would spend their time and funds on the case. After a discussion, Mike and I decided that wasn’t the situation.”
Wakeman had been ordered by then attorney general Jay Nixon to vacate his office due to the state’s nepotism statutes after he had appointed his brother-in-law Larry Miller to the position of fire chief after being elected mayor in 2006. 
Wakeman complied with the order to resign but was then appointed by the Holden City Council to fill the position until the next election.  Wakeman did not file to run in the next election, but was chosen by Holden voters by more than 100 write-in votes.
The Johnson County Circuit Court ruled that his decision to resign in the face of an ouster constituted being ousted.  The appellate court agreed.  Wakeman’s original term of office will conclude in April 2010.




Holden R-III School District superintendent Mike Ringen was given the go-ahead by the district school board to restructure several administrative positions within the district at the regular January meeting of the board held Monday night.
The action was spurred by the resignation of district auxiliary services director Larry Arnone. Arnone will leave the Holden system at the end of the year to become the new superintendent of the Strasburg school.
Ringen said in his proposal to the board that his recommendations were based on the fact that the current auxiliary services position has developed into a wide range of responsibilities in many different areas.  “Attempting to minimize the responsibilities and providing more expertise and attention in given areas will hopefully increase our productivity,” he stated.  “Because of the current economic clubmate, it is important that we make every effort to minimize personnel and salary, while still making sure responsibilities are taken care of.”
The restructuring scheduled to take place in the 2009-2010 school year would entail four different shifts.
1.  Replace current athletic director position with a true district activities director whose responsibilities would include not only athletics but all activities throughout the district.  Nothing would be scheduled and put on a calendar without going through this office.
In addition, this position would be responsible for all “project” type facilities management on the building and grounds throughout the district.  This would include working with contractors, developing specifications on projects, putting out bids, overseeing installation, short-term and long-term facility planning, etc.  This director will report to the superintendent.
2.  Institute a food service director whose responsibilities would encompass all aspects of the food service program.  They will report to the superintendent.
3.  Make another position that will include the supervisor of transportation and the supervisor of custodial and maintenance also to report to the superintendent.
4.  Fill a full-time position of high school assistant principal.
Ringen added, “Based on these changes, I am confident that we can provide more specific attention to the various areas of responsibilities.” 




In only her first year with  the Missouri Kansas Youth Rodeo Association (MKYRA) a Holden Elementary School fourth-grader has taken the organization by storm.
During the 2008 rodeo season, nine-year-old McKenzie Wansing, daughter of Michelle and Matt Wansing of Garden City, won the Peewee All-Around Saddle Award for the MKYRA.  The honor-roll student also won four buckles.
She captured the All-Around Buckle, the Championship Buckle for winning barrel racing at the finals rodeo and the Year-end Champion Buckle for Peewee Barrel Racing.  Those awards were won while riding what she calls her “awesome horse” Wonder Wings.  She also won the Reserve Champion buckle for Peewee Pole Bending on her pony Foxy.
McKenzie says that she had a wonderful year as a Peewee (under nine), but this year she must move up to the junior division.
As if those awards were not enough for her first year, McKenzie also won the Missouri State 4-H Barrel Racing championship for her age division (13 and under) and she was a participant in the Invitational Youth Rodeo that was held in October at the American Royal. 
Showing her versatility, she was also invited to sing the National Anthem at the Prairie Circuit Finals rodeo at the American Royal.




Technology director at Kingsville School Al West presented a report to the school board at their regular meeting held January 8.
West was unable to attend the meeting but sent the report and Charlene Atkins, assistant technology director was on hand to answer questions about the content of the report.
West reported that several changes have been made in technology since the end of the last school year.  “Probably the biggest change is the addition of a Windows 2008 server in the business room,” West reported.  “This is being used primarily for storing of student work.  We will eventually run all of our printers from that part of the building from this server.  We currently have these attached to the Novell server, so we are running both systems on these computers.  All of the computers in the business room have been updated to LCD monitors, and Office has been updated to the 2007 version. The computers in the library lab have also been updated to Office 2007.”
He added that a new lab with five computers was created for the new shop area.  These are going to be used for research and Cad work. They also purchased a printer which is installed locally.  He went on to say,
“Approximately 20 computers have been rebuilt with dual core Athion processors.  The machines are being built with the ability to run Windows Vista, although we are still running Windows XP on most of them.”
In other technology news, his report informed board members that Kingsville’s security cameras have been installed, providing them with approximately two months worth of tape of activity on them.  They are digital cameras so they will have very good resolution.  A new server is located in the west lab to run these, he added.  His report also included information on the new ceiling mounted projectors which were placed in the first grade room, seventh/eighth math room, and the music room. 
In ITV news, West reported there has been a delay in the installation of the new high definition equipment for the ITV room.  This was created because one of the schools dropped out of the grant.  He added Kingsville should still be getting the equipment, but a little later than expected.
In upcoming technology news, he reported during next summer they hope to be able to put ceiling mounted projectors in the rest of the elementary rooms, and some more in the high school rooms.  It was also his recommendation they replace at least 15 percent of their computers so they don’t end up with a large number needing replacement all at the same time.  “We have been, and will continue to put DVD players in computers so they can be hooked up to projectors eliminating the need for televisions,” he said.
In library/media news, media specialist Angie Love gave the board an update on current programs, development and budget.  “The use of DEAR time has continued to increase circulation among high school students.  Elementary classes spend the first semester receiving literacy training each week in the Media Center.  The computers in the Media Center have been upgraded to Microsoft 2007, to make them compatible with those housed in the business room,” said Love.  She went on to say, “The Kingsville R-I Library Media Center meets state standards.  Areas that have been focused on during the current school year include machine dependent materials as well as non-fiction in both the high and elementary libraries.  The center currently meets level three in all areas, according to the quantity tables provided by DESE.  A new set of encyclopedias was purchased this year to replace a set that will no longer meet the age specifications for general encyclopedias.”  She also gave an update on the Media Center’s budget and was available for questions from the board.
In elementary news, principal Angela Helms gave the board the percentage figures for attendance, separated by grade.  She also gave an overall picture of the numbers of students making the “A” and “B” honor roll for second quarter and first semester.  In upcoming events, she reminded the board Valentine’s parties will be February 13 at Kingsville.
In high school reports, principal Lorna Warren also reported on attendance and  honor roll recipients.  In upcoming events, she told the board January 19-24 will be the Wellington tournament, and February 20 will be homecoming.
The regular meeting of the Kingsville School Board closed to reopen February 12 in the board room.


The executive board of the Holden Sports Association held a short meeting on Saturday, December 20 to discuss fundraising events for the 2009 season.  The group plans to kick off their fundraising on Saturday, February 21, by pumping gas at the Holden Fastop from 8 a.m. to noon.  Members invite everyone to fuel their vehicles and stay warm doing it.
The group also began planning baseball and softball camps and tournaments starting in April, as well as a Texas Hold’em Tournament for the adults.  Look for more details in the near future.
Members went on to begin finalizing details of the annual ball registration and pancake breakfast with pancakes by “Criss Cakes”.  New this year will be a luncheon from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.  Entertainment by local youth is also being planned.
Lastly, the group set a date for the annual meeting and officer election.  The board would like to invite anyone interested in being an officer to attend.  The success of the HSA and summer ball in Holden depends on the community’s support of this meeting.  The meeting is set for Monday, January 19 at 7 p.m. at the Hallar Building.
All are encouraged to attend.  For questions regarding the HSA, its events or registration, please contact Tami at 732-4775.


In what head coach Dale Wescott called their best game so far this season, the Holden High School varsity boys’ basketball team slipped past Archie, 74-72, last Wednesday in overtime.
The Eagles, 4-0 on the year, were down to the previously unbeaten Whirlwinds by a 36-33 score at the end of the first half.  “In the first half, we weren’t guarding them well on transition,” Coach Wescott explained.  “They’re good and they were getting some easy buckets.  We also didn’t do a good job of rebounding, but we did a nice job of fighting back in the second half.”
Holden came out in the second half and rebounded better and took leads by as much as 10.  “We really should have iced it in the third quarter, but we let them back in the fourth to end in regulation 65-65,” the coach continued.  “It was a very exciting game and we outscored them by two in the OT.”
Leading the way for the Eagles was senior point guard in just his second game back from injury.  He hit 27 points, including six three-pointers.  “They started us out in a zone defense in the first quarter and Trevor hit four threes,” Wescott said.  “The rest of the way, they face guarded Trevor, but he still got 27.”
Yancey also added three assists and three rebounds to his totals.  Also having a great scoring game was Bruce Evans who finished with 19 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals.  Other statistics included:  Zak Anstine, 11 points, three rebounds and two steals; Deron Binkley, eight points and 12 rebounds; David Lerda, five points, two rebounds and two assists; Crosby Coleman, two points and seven rebounds; and Danny Tanksley, two points.
This week the boys are competing in the Pleasant Hill Tournament and will travel to Knob Noster Tuesday for their first Missouri River Valley East Conference game of the season.
Player of the week picks by Coach Wescott were Yancey, offense; Binkley, defense and Zak Anstine and Evans for hustle.