Jeff Colyer Sworn In As Governor This Afternoon

Governor Jeff Colyer, M.D. was sworn in as the 47th governor of Kansas at 3 p.m. today in the Capitol rotunda in Topeka, accompanied by First Lady Ruth Colyer and their daughters, Serena and Dominique. Governor Colyer attended mass in Hays this morning with his classmates from Thomas More Prep-Marian High School. He then visited West Side Alternative School, which is also in Hays.

Governor Colyer said, “This public school is a unique partnership with the High Plains Mental Health Center that ensures special needs kids have the same opportunities for success as any other Kansan.”

When asked about his inauguration, Governor Colyer said, “Throughout my life, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to serve in a variety of ways including as a doctor, humanitarian and lieutenant governor. I’m excited to begin serving Kansans in an even greater way today as the governor of this beautiful state.”

Dr. Colyer is a fifth-generation Kansan from Hays who is dedicated to making a difference in people’s lives on the personal, state, national and international level. Over the last 25 years, Dr. Colyer has volunteered, as a surgeon, in dangerous war zones such as Afghanistan, Iraq, the Balkans, Libya, and Africa. He was an International Medical Corps volunteer and the only surgeon in southern Rwanda during the genocide that killed 800,000 people.

Dr. Colyer also served as a White House Fellow under President Ronald Reagan and President George H.W. Bush in international affairs.

Steinway Piano Restoration Project Has A Mystery

Submitted photos. Fort School High School Choral Director Meredith Reid leads a choir rehearsal Tuesday, accompanied by Pat Harry on the Steinway piano.

Fort Scott High School Choral Director Meredith Reid began a fundraising project to restore the school’s 1925 Model L Heirloom  Steinway piano last summer.

The cost of the restoration is $30,000, and Reid’s fundraising has secured $15,000 so far.

“We could get rid of this and get another piano of lesser value,” Reid said. “But this is such a gem.”

The piano is not stuck away in a corner somewhere.

“We use it every day,” Reid said. “We have over 100 high school kids in the choir and we have choir every day. These students are who it is impacting.”

“Pat Harry is our accompanist, she is the best of the best,” Reid said. “Really she is more than that. She is a collaborator both musically and educationally. It’s appropriate to give her the best.”

The high school orchestra class also uses the piano and students use it for practice after school, especially at this time of the year, music contest season.

“It’s a testament to our community and our program to have a Steinway,” Reid said.

The Steinway piano has been in the school district for over 40 years.

There is a mystery surrounding the origins of the piano because no one knows who donated it to the school.

“I talked to Allan Drake (the school’s former business manager) to see if he had any file on it,” Reid said. “I then asked the school board office, they couldn’t find any documentation since there is no purchase history.”

“We talked to former music teachers Charlotte and Larry Swaim,” she said. “Larry knew it had been donated when he first started teaching in the 1970s.”

Whatever the origins may be, the importance to the school’s music program is invaluable.

“It’s an acoustic piano, which means it hits the strings inside the instrument which creates the sound,” Reid said.

It’s a “far superior sound” than a digital sound on an electric keyboard, she said. “The (piano)soundboard is solid spruce. You can’t recreate that in something that’s digitalized.”

“There is a lot more nuance for the accompanist,” Reid said.

The school Steinway is American made, with each part being handmade, she said.

“Each (piano) has a serial number,” she said. “They can tell you all the details. Steinway still keeps records of it.”

A piano technician visited the school Friday.

“He said the Steinway brand is created in such a way as to be rebuilt,” she said. “Not all pianos were made that way. The lesser pianos don’t last that long.”

“It seems like we are putting a lot of money into it, but if we buy a lesser brand, we’ll have to replace it because I won’t last as long,” she said.

“We have received grants from the Bourbon County Arts Council, Fort Scott Area Community Foundation, and the City of Fort Scott, she noted. “Currently, we are looking for more support from organizations, businesses or individuals to donate in any amount to the project.  The full project will cost $30,000. We now have $15,000 raised and need $15,000 more.”

Reid’s goal is to raise the funds to send the piano to be restored at the end of the school year in May, and “potentially get it back by next Christmas,” she said.

The fine arts are at the heart of our community in Fort Scott,  and restoring the Steinway grand piano will continue this legacy for decades to come in both the community and the school, she noted.

A brand new Steinway of this size would cost $78,400, she said.

“We need $30,000 to completely restore our Steinway. It will be playable for another 50 years at least.”

Reid’s phone number is 620.238.0673 or email her at [email protected].

 

 

 

 

The Keyhole Provides Christian Oriented Youth Activities

Ben Workman is the new interim director at the Keyhole.

The Keyhole is the first in a series of interviews about the 2018 United Way of Bourbon County grant recipients.

Donations to United Way stay local, according to its brochure, and  the organization focusus on education, income and health.

The community is asked to be a part by contributing to employee campaigns at their place of employment, make a one-time donation via email, or donate on-line at http://bit.ly/bourboncountyuw.

Ben Workman is the interim director of the Keyhole, since December 5, 2017.

Workman said the Keyhole is a place to provide Christian-oriented recreation, social and education opportunities for area youth.

“The Keyhole (board) wants the kids in our area to be productive members of society, through Christian values,” Workman said.

“The entertainment side is a draw to the kids,” he said.

“We have goals of youth to respect authority, love each other and love their parents,” Workman said. “That’s the pastor side of me.”

Workman is pastor of Cornerstone Bible Church and also is a current board member of the Keyhole.

Other board members are Dona Bauer, Tim Harper, Judy Hood,  Marge Madison, Kenny Felt.

The facility is located across from Fort Scott High School at 1002 S. Main. Phone number is 620-223-4700.

The Keyhole, 1002 S. Main focuses on youth.
Hours of the Keyhole.
Rental policy of the Keyhole.
What the Keyhole offers youth at the facility.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rental policy of the Keyhole.
Hours of the Keyhole.
What the Keyhole offers youth at the facility.