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Faith news

To send in items for the Faith News, email information to [email protected]. Please include your name and contact information. In the event of inclement weather, contact the church or organization to see if the event is still being held.

Holy Name Catholic parish, 1007 Southwest Blvd., Kansas City, Kansas, will sponsor Lenten dinners from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Fridays in Lent.

“Scripture Study and Reflection” will be offered from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Wednesday, March 27, at the Keeler Women’s Center, 2220 Central Ave., Kansas City, Kansas. The program is facilitated by Heather Neds.
The Gospel Non-Violence Study Group will meet from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 26, at the Keeler Women’s Center, 2220 Central Ave., Kansas City, Kansas. To register, call 913-906-8990..
“Lenten Reflection Through Art” by Mary Donovan will be presented from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Mondays, March 25, April 1, 8 and 15 at the Keeler Women’s Center, 2220 Central Ave., Kansas City, Kansas. To register, call 913-906-8990.
The Keeler Women’s Center is a ministry of the Benedictine Sisters of Atchison, Kansas. All programs are free. To register, call 913-906-8990.

St. John the Baptist Men’s Club is sponsoring a jumbo shrimp dinner at 5:30 p.m. April 12 at St. John’s Catholic Club gym, 414 Barnett, Kansas City, Kansas. The dinners will cost $16.

A shrimp and fish dinner will be sponsored at St. John the Evangelist,2910 Strong Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, from 5 to 7 p.m. April 12. The cost of dinner will be $12 for a large meal; $8 for a small meal; and $8 for fish.

St. Patrick Catholic parish, 94th and State Avenue, will sponsor fish dinners on Fridays in Lent. The dinners will begin at 4:30 p.m. The cost of the dinner is $10 to $11 for adults, $6 for children, and $30 for families.

Members of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1300 N. 18th St., Kansas City, Kansas, will observe the fourth Sunday in the Lenten season at a service at 10 a.m. Sunday, March 31; a Lenten study session will follow using the “Walk in Love” curriculum.

Send Faith News items to [email protected]. Please include your contact information. If there is inclement weather, check with the sponsoring organization to see if the event will still be held.

Flooding closes Wolcott Drive, inundates Lakeside Speedway, other businesses

Wolcott Drive west of Hutton Road flooded today, and Wolcott Road is now closed.

Flooding was seen Saturday morning at a grain elevator located near 105th and Wolcott Drive. The street is now closed to traffic because of flooding.

A view of flooding near I-435 in western Kansas City, Kansas, was seen from Wyandotte County Lake Saturday morning.

Water from the Missouri River was seen Saturday morning heading along I-435 in the direction of Wolcott Drive. It had already filled some space to the west of this photo.

The entrance of Lakeside Speedway on Saturday morning.

by Mary Rupert

Wolcott Drive in western Kansas City, Kansas, has been closed Saturday afternoon after levees on the Missouri River overtopped.

Pete Howey, whose family owns the Lakeside Speedway track on Wolcott Drive, said he was at Lakeside Speedway on Wolcott Drive Saturday morning when a levee broke near the grain elevator nearby. Water came into the speedway track and flooded it.

“It just gave through, it’s been rising approximately 10 inches an hour,” Howey said. When he left Saturday morning, the water was chest-high on him, and he’s 5-10, he added.

“When it gave way, water came rushing through, like going to white water rapids in Colorado,” he said. “It was cooking through, is what I keep telling people. I was there when the levee broke.”

Wolcott Drive also includes a grain elevator company and cement company. There are no homes there.

Officials with the Corps of Engineers said at a news conference today that four Kansas levees overtopped Saturday on the Missouri River, including one at the Kansas Department of Corrections in Lansing and three Wolcott levees. One of the three Wolcott levee sections was breached as well, according to the Corps.

The levees that overtopped Saturday were nonfederal levees that were locally operated and maintained, according to Corps officials.

The Missouri River is forecast to crest in the Kansas City area tonight and Sunday, according to officials.

Wolcott Drive was closed to traffic at Hutton Road, Howey said. K-5 is also closed from Lansing to Eisenhower Road in Leavenworth County.

Howey said the railroad tracks that run on Wolcott Drive are under water in two places, as well.

Lakeside Speedway had been scheduled to open its season on April 19, and now it will have to wait, he said. It will be back, as soon as it can be.

All he needs is to get physically back on the roads and start working on it again, he said. It just depends on what Mother Nature does, he added. If the river declines, then goes up again, it may take a while.

It’s too early to set a new opening date, he added. He said during the 2011 flood, it took nine weeks for the previous owner to get the track open again.

“As soon as we can, we’ll be back in action,” Howey said. “We’ll be starting our 65th year of racing.”

Lakeside opened in 1955 near 92nd and Leavenworth Road, and moved to 5615 Wolcott Drive in 1989.

Lakeside Speedway definitely will be reopening sometime in the future, he said.

KCKCC plays in championship game tonight

Cape Fear had no one to stop KCKCC sophomore forward Lillie Moore (5), who had 22 points and 12 rebounds much to the delight of a boisterous partisan crowd (in background). (Photo by Alan Hoskins)

KCKCC will face Union County of Cranford, N.J., in tonight’s NJCAA DII championship game.

The game will be shown at 7:30 p.m. on NJCAA TV (at a charge of $4.99).

Union (30-4) upset No. 1 seeded Illinois Central 86-80 in overtime after trailing by 21 late in the third quarter and then defeated Lakawanna 69-55 in last night’s semifinals.

KCKCC defeated Cape Fear 83-75 Friday night.