HOLTS SUMMIT — Retold Tales Used Bookstore in Holts Summit hosted its inaugural “trash bash” trash cleanup Monday as part of its Earth Day celebration, allowing residents to make a positive impact on the environment.
The trash bash began at Retold Tales and included a 1.5-mile circuit for volunteers to walk along while collecting trash. The loop headed up South Summit Drive to Holts Summit Park, and then down Greenway Drive and back to the bookstore.
The community cleanup was sponsored by both Retold Tales bookstore and True Value of Holts Summit. The sponsors provided water and supplies, like gloves and bags, to volunteers.
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Katherine Boyce, an employee at Retold Tales, helped organize and execute the cleanup effort. She said events like this one help increase awareness of the amount of waste put into the environment.
“It’s really easy to get caught up in like trying to get from point a to point b, and you get in like autopilot mode, and you don’t see all the litter building up,” Boyce said. “But you notice the people standing there picking it up, and it makes you a bit more conscious of what you’re doing to help and how much waste you’re putting out into the environment.”
The trash bash offered the opportunity for community members to come together and show their commitment to environmental stewardship, but Boyce said you don’t have to be cleaning in groups to make a difference.
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“You can go out in your backyard and clean that up or walk out into your front yard, or just walk down your street,” Boyce said.
According to Boyce, the community in Holts Summit shows a true care for the environment.
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“In Holts Summit, there’s gardens everywhere and those attract all the bees and the butterflies, and that’s a huge impact,” she said.
Boyce said initiatives like this one on Earth Day are an important reminder of the responsibility humans have to help the planet.
“I live on the Earth, and the Earth needs to be taken care of,” Boyce said. “I think because we all live here, we kind of all share the same responsibility to take care of it.”
This Earth Day’s trash bash served as a beacon of hope to a greener, cleaner future, Boyce said.
Two Affinia Healthcare employees were recognized for their work in community health during the recent Community Health Workers Association of Missouri conference.
Candace Henderson, Affinia’s director of community health, received the organization’s Individual and Community Capacity Building Award after being nominated in eight categories. Henderson leads a team of community health workers who connect residents with health screenings and other services.
Naila Hudson, a community health worker with Affinia, received the Individual and Community Assessment Award. Her duties include coordinating mobile mammography events, conducting health screenings and assisting with the organization’s food pantry.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Jackson County grand jury indicted a man in connection with a 2024 hit-and-run that left one mad dead.
Carleno Gonzales has been indicted for first-degree involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault and leaving the scene of an accident, according to an indictment filed Thursday.
These are the same charges Jackson County prosecutors filed against Gonzales in December 2025.
The crash occurred on Nov. 19, 2024, near the intersection of U.S. Highway 71 and East 59th Street.
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Gonzales, driving a Chevrolet Cruze, fled the scene on foot after he struck a Chrysler 200, driven by Terrell Williams, that was stopped at a traffic light.
Witnesses at the scene saw the Cruze “driving erratically at a high rate of speed” before the crash, per court documents.
Williams died from the injuries he sustained in the collision. Court documents said a passenger in Gonzales’ vehicle was seriously injured.
Gonzales is currently in custody at the Jackson County Detention Center on a $150,000 cash-only bond.
He is set for an arraignment at 9 a.m. on June 16.
