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KCK music student benefit planned Sunday

A blues music benefit for Kansas City, Kan., music students is planned from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday, May 22, at BB’s Lawnside BBQ, 1205 E. 85th St., Kansas City, Mo.

The annual event raises funds for the KCK Schools Foundation for Excellence. Donations are $10 each.

Six blues bands are scheduled to play: Brody Buster Band, Millage Gilbert and the Downhome Blues Band, Lonesome Hank and the Heartaches, Turkey Bone and Full Count, John Paul and the Flying Circus, RocknRick and the Roadmasterz.

The event is organized by Scott Mackey, who said last year’s event raised $3,000 for the Kansas City, Kan., Public Schools. He said the district will determine the use for the funds, and he hopes some funds go toward musical instruments.

Mackey said he enjoyed playing musical instruments as a kid and now enjoys listening to blues and rock music.

“Learning how to play music is a very good goal and it helps with life,” he said.

Tonganoxie man charged with multiple felonies in Missouri

The Tonganoxie man who fled police into Kansas City, Mo., on Monday, and fired shots at motorists, injuring a woman, on U.S. 71 in the mid-afternoon has been charged with multiple felony counts, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced today.

Curtis R. Ayers, 28, faces assault 1st degree, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, resisting arrest and three counts of armed criminal action.

Ayers was being sought for the alleged murder of a Kansas City, Kan., detective at the time that the alleged felonies happened in Missouri.

According to court records, Kansas City, Mo., police were dispatched to the area of Bannister Road and Highway 71 on a vehicle that matched the description of a suspect vehicle involved in the shooting of a police officer in Kansas City, Kan.

According to victims and witnesses there, Ayers fled that vehicle on foot and displayed a long gun. He confronted a woman travelling in her vehicle on Highway 71. He pointed a gun at her and told her to get out of her car. He shot two rounds at her vehicle.

When she realized she had been shot, she pulled over on the highway. She identified Ayers as the man who shot her. A second victim stated Ayers fired at his vehicle, striking it one time.

A police officer had begun to follow the suspect vehicle, but he fled until the vehicle collided with a bridge support, according to the documents. Another witness, a police officer, saw smoke coming from the suspect’s weapon and he fired a single shot from his patrol rifle, stopping the suspect. Ayers was quickly taken into custody and given medical attention.

Prosecutors have requested a bond of $250,000 cash.

Streetcar returns to Kansas City, Mo.

by William Crum

Remember the days when streetcars were around. It was 50 years ago when they were removed. Today, they started again in Kansas City, Mo.

I can remember them as a young child, when my dad worked for Jack Borings Appliances on Troost Avenue. How I loved watching the streetcars go by while my mom and I visited my dad.

When I was 13 the streetcar lines were replaced by buses. For a number of years the issue of whether to bring the streetcars became a heated political issue. Kansas City is so spread out and people here are to driving their cars. On the other side of the coin is the gasoline prices – when will they go up? No one really know.

There were studies that if you ride a streetcar or bus you are more relaxed and when you get to work you’re more productive. It will be interesting to see how everything pans out regarding this issue.