April 2015 – Page 31 – Welcome to Wyandotte Daily!

Remembering Ed Mayfield

by William Crum
Many residents remember Edward J. Mayfield, long-time county clerk of Wyandotte County.

He was born June 26, 1932, and died on April 14, 2015, at the age of 82. He was married nearly 63 years to Mary Elaine (Donegan).

He was raised in the Strawberry Hill area of Kansas City, Kan., and as a young man he worked in the packing houses. He was an active member at the Cathedral of St. Peter Catholic Church.

He served as the Wyandotte County clerk from 1969 to 1970 and again from 1993 until his retirement. He was a past president of the St. John’s Catholic Club where he bowled for more than 50 years. Ed and Mary Elaine graduated from Bishop Ward High School in 1950.

Ed lived by the motto, “Take it one day at a time,” and was widely known for his passionate attendance at hundreds of his grandchildren’s and great grandchildren’s events. His greatest pride and joy in life were his nine children, 21 grandchildren 11 great-grandchildren.

As a young man growing up I had the opportunity to know Ed. He and my father were friends; he was a jovial man with strong convictions to his family and to this community as well. Politically he was known as a very truthful politician, which says a lot especially in today’s standards. I remember the time when I had a question about something and he would always be there for me, which showed me a lot.

I, like others in the community who knew him, thought of him as a friend, a fellow citizen and a local legend. What he taught us all is simple, get involved with your community, work hard and play harder, a true American in every sense of the word. With Ed’s influence he helped make this community great. For those who had the opportunity to meet him and know him will remain in our hearts forever, he has taught us all so much. My prayers go out to his wife, his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Today’s hit-and-miss thunderstorm weather

It appears that thunderstorms may hit the general region, but could miss Wyandotte County today.

The National Weather Service’s storm map shows the storms close, but located to the south of Wyandotte County for this afternoon and evening.

Today’s weather in Wyandotte County will be sunny with a high near 66, a west southwest wind 8 to 16 mph with gusts as high as 28 mph. Tonight, it will be partly cloudy with a low around 40, and a west wind of 6 to 13 mph becoming north after midnight.

Wednesday, expect a high of 58 with sunny skies, according to the weather service. Wednesday night’s low will be around 39. There could be some patchy frost in northern Kansas and Missouri on Wednesday and Thursday morning, according to the weather service, although this could be north of Wyandotte County.

The weather service said Thursday will be mostly sunny with a high of 64 and a southeast wind of 3 to 8 mph. Thursday night’s low will be 49.

Next chance for storms is Friday afternoon through Friday night, but there is a question about whether they will be severe, the weather service said.

The high will be near 63, and the chance of showers and thunderstorms is 60 percent mainly after 1 p.m. Friday, according to the weather service.

Blue Bell Ice Cream voluntarily pulls all products off shelves

Blue Bell Ice Cream of Brenham, Texas, today announced it has widened its voluntary recall, pulling off all the products on the market.

The products include ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbet and frozen snacks because they have the potential to be contaminated with listeria monocytogenes, an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, or others with weakened immune systems, a spokesman said.

Although healthy persons may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, listeria infection may cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

“We’re committed to doing the 100 percent right thing, and the best way to do that is to take all of our products off the market until we can be confident that they are all safe,” said Paul Kruse, Blue Bell CEO and president. “We are heartbroken about this situation and apologize to all of our loyal Blue Bell fans and customers. Our entire history has been about making the very best and highest quality ice cream and we intend to fix this problem. We want enjoying our ice cream to be a source of joy and pleasure, never a cause for concern, so we are committed to getting this right.”

Kansas and Missouri are among the states affected by the voluntary recall, the company said.

Today’s decision was the result of findings from an enhanced sampling program initiated by Blue Bell which revealed that Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream half gallons produced on March 17, 2015, and March 27, 2015, contained the bacteria. This means Blue Bell has now had several positive tests for listeria in different places and plants and as previously reported five patients were treated in Kansas and three in Texas after testing positive for listeria monocytogenes.

“At every step, we have made decisions in the best interest of our customers based on the evidence we had available at the time,” Kruse said. “At this point, we cannot say with certainty how Listeria was introduced to our facilities and so we have taken this unprecedented step. We continue to work with our team of experts to eliminate this problem.”

Blue Bell is implementing a procedure called “test and hold” for all products made at all of its manufacturing facilities. This means that all products will be tested first and held for release to the market only after the tests show they are safe. The Broken Arrow facility will remain closed as Blue Bell continues to investigate.

In addition to the “test and hold” system, Blue Bell is implementing additional safety procedures and testing, according to a spokesman.

Blue Bell expects to resume distribution soon on a limited basis once it is confident in the safety of its product, the spokesman said.

Consumers who have purchased these items are urged to return them to the place of purchase for a full refund. For more information consumers with questions may call 1-866-608-3940 Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. CST or go to bluebell.com.