2022 was a year full of big announcements and contentious arguments about major changes coming to Warren County. There have also been many attention-grabbing happenings in the area of crime and …
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2022 was a year full of big announcements and contentious arguments about major changes coming to Warren County. There have also been many attention-grabbing happenings in the area of crime and courts over the last 12 months.
As the year comes to an end, we wanted to look back at some of The Record’s stories that received the most interest from readers in 2022. Below are 10 of our most-read story topics from the past year.
In December, a business that owns 178 acres of land north of the western I-70 interchange in Warrenton began signaling plans for future industrial or large-scale commercial development.
The business, Hickory Ridge Family LLC, is working with economic development officials to get the property designated as a “certified site” by the Missouri Department of Economic Development. The designation indicates sites in Missouri that are ideal for industrial or large-scale commercial development, because they meet strict criteria related to proper zoning, adequate utilities, and buildable land for industrial-scale, non-retail developers.
Hickory Ridge’s intentions for the property became known when the company approached the city of Warrenton for a sewer service agreement, which would have Warrenton annex the land into the city and build sewer mains to the property.
Drivers on Highway 47 through Warrenton have likely noticed the new, drive-thru only coffee shop just south of the I-70 interchange. When the coffee shop was first announced in March, it immediately excited Warrenton residents who have been wanting another option for on-the-go coffee for years.
Scooter’s Coffee is a national chain of drive-thru coffee shops. The location in Warrenton is a franchised shop owned by a franchisee in Jackson, Mo.
The only concern raised prior to the construction of the new Scooter’s store is whether it would cause traffic congestion on Highway 47, a worry that so far has not materialized.
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Wendy (Nordwald) Kozma, the former Warren County assessor, pleaded guilty in June to 15 felony charges related to alleged embezzlement from the Missouri State Assessors Association. She was accused of taking over $250,000 from the private, nonprofit association over the course of 10 years.
Kozma resigned as county assessor, and from her role overseeing funds for the Assessors Association, in 2020 in order to take an executive job with Habitat For Humanity in Florida. Sometime after that, the Missouri Highway Patrol initiated an investigation that culminated in criminal charges in 2021.
Following her guilty plea, Kozma was sentenced to serve 120 days in prison, followed by five years of probation, conditioned on the payment of over $213,000 in restitution to the Assessors Association.
Kozma was scheduled to be released from her stint in prison on Dec. 24, Christmas Eve.
The announcement of a new gas station in Warrenton with an associated restaurant and car wash was another development project that drew a lot of attention in March. Dirt moving and site work for the gas station are currently underway at the northwest corner of South Highway 47 and Warrior Avenue.
The gas station facility will be owned by Nirdosh LLC, and located just outside the Warrenton Pool Park. However, the specific partner companies that will provide the gasoline, restaurant, and car wash services have not yet been publicly announced.
In one of the largest development announcements ever in Warren County, national beef processor American Foods Group (AFG) announced that it intends to build a 775,000-square-foot industrial slaughterhouse just west of Foristell. Nearby residents immediately appealed a permit for the facility that was granted in the spring, bringing the matter to the Warren County Commission.
After an hours-long appeal hearing in May, the Warren County Commission upheld the permit for AFG, clearing the way for construction of an $800 million facility that is expected to employ around 1,300 people.
Site work for the massive facility began in August and is ongoing. AFG hopes to have the plant online in 2024.
In February, the city of Truesdale granted a business license for construction of Good Game Sports Park, a paintball and airsoft facility park located on Veterans Memorial Parkway.
The park, which is subdivided into numerous fields themed on different video game and pop culture references, opened to the public in August. It has since been hosting recreational play alongside regimented competitive events.
The impossible-to-miss centerpiece of the park, a castle made of shipping containers, is highly visible to drivers along I-70.
A former Wright City police detective sued the city government in November, along with the two top officers of the city’s police department. The detective, Chris Beard, is alleging wrongful termination for his firing in October, along with claims that he was harassed by his superior officers.
Beard claims that in 2019, he was given a bullet by Tom Canavan, then a lieutenant with the department, after Beard advocated for sturdier protective vests. Beard alleged that after Canavan became chief in early 2022, Beard was subjected to derogatory comments, and that Canavan and Lt. Timothy Mattews worked together to get Beard fired based on “misleading or false” performance issues.
The reason for Beard’s termination is not publicly known, although the lawsuit draws a connection to a March incident in which Beard and other officers arrested a man for making rude remarks to a patrol officer. City officials ordered a review of the incident after it was publicized in September on a YouTube channel about police misconduct.
Following the horrific school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the Warren County R-III School Board was asked in June to consider allowing school staff to undergo special training to carry firearms at school. The proposal came from Carolyn Spraggs, a local resident and current candidate for school board.
“I hope and pray nightly that our community never faces an event like that,” Spraggs said at the time. “But sadly, hopes and prayers don’t always keep bad people at bay.”
School officials at the time said that no teachers or staff had indicated any interest in such a role. School board members expressed a mix of views on the suggestion, but arrived at the consensus that they would want significantly more information and feedback before taking that step. There’s been no further action on the subject since then.
In June, new owners of a motel on Arlington Way in Warrenton announced that they would be converting the building into so-called “efficiency apartments” for senior residents.
Lysa and Darren Stiern, of Warrenton, received clearance from the city’s board of aldermen on June 21 to begin converting the Relax Inn, a strip of motel rooms on the west side of Arlington Way, into minimalist living units. The apartments will be age-restricted to people 60 and older.
The motel rooms being converted to living units range in size from 220 square feet to 334 square feet, according to floor plans submitted to the city. The new proprietors plan to build a kitchenette into each unit, which will also contain a living area, bed, and preexisting bathroom.
The new owners, Lysa and Darren Stiern, also indicated that some of the living units will be outfitted for physically impaired residents, and that the building has a shared laundry facility where additional laundry machines will be added.
Wright City police officers posted a picture and message to Facebook in March celebrating the apprehension and criminal charge of an individual transporting 60 pounds of marijuana, 65 pounds of THC edibles and 2 pounds of psychoactive mushrooms, along with $3,000 cash.
That Facebook post found its way into the social media site’s mysterious programming that decides what posts “go viral” and get seen by vast groups of people, and soon the police department was receiving hundreds of negative comments from marijuana supporters across the country.
City officials responded by saying that they respect those with different views on marijuana, but that the city would continue to vigilantly enforce Missouri’s drug trafficking laws.
