Obituary of Hector Morillo

Hector M. Morillo was born on December 7, 1951 in Caguas, Puerto Rico and passed away peacefully surrounded by the love of his family on Saturday, November 30, 2024.

Hector was a man of remarkable intellect and humor, known for his sharp wit and infectious laughter that could make anybody smile. Hector was loved immensely by his daughters who were the center of his world. He installed his love of reading, learning and music to both. His fight against his recent illness was nothing short of heroic, embodying the strength and resilience that defined his character.

Hector will be deeply missed but forever remembered for his love, his laughter and profound impact he had on those fortunate enough to know him.

 

Hector was preceded in death by his mother, Paula Danley.

He is survived by his daughters, Carmen Hickman and husband Chris and Alisa Morillo and partner Brock Milford, three grandchildren; Jessica Hickman, Madison Allen and husband, Garrett and Jerrett Hickman and wife, Mackenzie, three great-grandchildren; Hayden, Hudson and Oakley who were the lights of his life. He is also survived by his lifelong friends, Henry & Patty Homan and family.

 

Memorial Service will be at 11:00 AM Saturday at the Cheney Witt Chapel

Memorials are suggested to St Jude Children’s Hospital or Cancer Center of Kansas Dodge City Chapter and may be left in care of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, P.O. Box 347,Ft. Scott, KS 66701.  Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.

Care To Share Helps Cancer Fighters and Their Caregivers

Today only you can double your money thru the Fort Scott Area Community Foundation and their Matching Gifts. And you can actually give tomorrow too, but why wait!!!

You can donate online or walk a check into the Chamber office or call us at 620-644-9090 or 620-238-0902. Click the link for all the details!

https://www.fortscottgives.org/nonprofits.cfm?id=2051

So far every donation has been from a Fort Scott mailing address except one from Pittsburg.

Let’s get all of BBCO in on this!!!

Thank You for Caring and Sharing!

Obituary of Jessie Haynes

Jessie JoDean Haynes, age 60, a resident of Joplin, Missouri, passed away Thursday, November 28, 2024, at Mercy Hospital in Joplin.  She was born January 3, 1964, in Iola, Kansas, the daughter of Charlie George Fishback and Katie Mae McPherson Fishback.

After obtaining her GED, Jessie enrolled in the cosmetology program at Ft. Scott Community College and worked for a time as a beautician.  Jessie had a love of art and drawing.  She took her artistic abilities and obtained a degree in graphic design from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.  For over ten years, Jessie has been employed by Rescare where she provided home health services to clients primarily in the Pittsburg, Kansas area.  She will be remembered for her keen sense of humor.  She was a devoted grandmother who dearly adored her grandbabies.

Survivors include her children, Tonya Haynes (Paul) of Ft. Scott, Kansas and Charles Haynes (Brittany) of Bronson, Kansas and thirteen grandchildren, Kisa, Donald, Miguel, Johnathan, Mylee, Josue, Cesar, Liam, Khiana, Iesha, Dezmond, Octavius and Elijah.  Also surviving are her longtime companion, Charles “Chuck” Martinez of Joplin, two brothers, Ron and Sam and four sisters, Arma, Sandra, Brenda and Isabelle.

Jessie was preceded in death by her parents, a daughter, Tara, two brothers, Henry and John and two sisters, Idessa and Gwen.

A celebration of Jessie’s life will be held at 3:00 P.M. Thursday, December 5th at the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main St. Ft. Scott, Kansas. Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook.

Kansas Courts News Release: Kansas Supreme Court docket for December 10–11

 

 

Kansas Courts News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 2, 2024

Contact:

Lisa Taylor

Public Information Director

785-296-4872

[email protected]

Kansas Supreme Court docket for December 10–11

TOPEKA—Cases on the Supreme Court December 10–11, 2024, docket are summarized below and will be heard in the Supreme Court courtroom on the third floor of the Kansas Judicial Center in Topeka.

All Supreme Court oral arguments are livestreamed at www.youtube.com/KansasSupremeCourt.

Accommodation

Any person with a disability who requires accommodation to access the docket should notify the judicial branch ADA coordinator as early as possible:

ADA Coordinator
[email protected]
785-296-2256
TTY at 711

Note to media

 

Reporters who plan to cover oral arguments need to be familiar with Supreme Court Rule 1001: Media Coverage of Judicial Proceedings, which prohibits using electronic recording devices during proceedings. If you plan to be in the courtroom when a case is heard, notify Lisa Taylor at [email protected] by noon the day before it is scheduled. If you want to use a camera, video camera, or audio recording device, it must be approved by the chief justice in advance of the oral argument.

9 a.m. Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Appeal No. 125,734: Austin Properties, LLC v. City of Shawnee, Kansas

Johnson County: (Petition for Review) Austin Properties, LLC submitted an application to the City of Shawnee to develop a “high-end” multifamily residential development planned on approximately 29 acres near Highway K-7 and Woodsonia Drive. An overwhelming number of neighbors filed a protest petition opposing Austin’s application, thus requiring the City to achieve a three-fourths majority vote to approve Austin’s application. After failing to achieve the majority vote, Austin’s proposal failed to pass. Austin sought judicial review, and the district court upheld the City’s decision. The Court of Appeals held that while there is no doubt about the court’s review, and likely the credibility and reliability of the City’s zoning decisions would benefit from a more complete explanation of its rationale for denying Austin’s application, there was sufficient information in the record to demonstrate the reasonableness of the City’s decision. Issues on review are whether: 1) the Court of Appeals erred in striking the due process provisions from the rezoning statute, K.S.A. 12-757(d), on the ground that they conflict with the adjacent-landowner protest authorization within the same statute, K.S.A. 12-757(f); 2) the Court of Appeals decision conflicts with Wells v. City of Basehor, 97 P.3d 528, and erroneously expands the scope of K.S.A. 12-757(f) beyond allowing landowners to protest the use of adjacent land, to protesting development design plans; and 3) the Court of Appeals established an unachievable evidentiary standard.

10:30 a.m. Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Appeal No. 125,761: State of Kansas v. Casinroyial Donje Caszarone Collins

Sedgwick County: (Petition for Review) Collins appealed the district court’s order denying his motion to reinstate his appeal finding that no exception applied that would allow Collins to file an appeal out of time. The Court of Appeals found Collins’ arguments to be unpreserved or unpersuasive and affirmed. The issue on review is whether the exceptional circumstances excuse Collins’ filing his notice of appeal late.

Appeal No. 126,130: State of Kansas v. Christopher Shawn Adams

Ellis County: (Petition for Review) If a prosecutor charges a witness with perjury based on their preliminary hearing testimony in a criminal case, may that person then assert a constitutional privilege against self-incrimination when called as a State’s witness in the later jury trial? The district court ruled Stephanie Lang could exercise her right to avoid another perjury charge in that circumstance. The Court of Appeals agreed with the district court that the State’s grant of immunity to Lang under K.S.A. 22-3415 was insufficient to protect her against a second perjury charge and the State could not use Lang’s preliminary hearing testimony and her out-of-court statements presented during the preliminary hearing as evidence in the jury trial, even though she would be unavailable as a witness. The Court of Appeals also held that because the State did not challenge that ruling in bringing this interlocutory appeal, it may be reconsidered in the district court. The issue on review is whether the Court of Appeals erred in finding that the State’s grant of use and derivative use immunity to Lang was insufficient to protect her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination because her immunized testimony, if false, could subject her to the risk of a future charge of perjury.

9 a.m. Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Case No. 128,062: In The Matter of Alejandro J. Solorio

Disciplinary: Solorio was admitted to the practice of law in 2000. Solorio’s ethics matter involved his representation of two individuals in an immigration matter and his failure to take action on their behalf. The disciplinary administrator recommended that Solorio’s license be suspended for one year. After a 90-day period, the disciplinary administrator recommended the remaining nine months be stayed and Solorio placed on 18 months’ probation. Solorio recommended that he be suspended for six months, with an immediate stay and that he be placed on 18 months’ probation. The hearing panel recommends that Solorio be censured and that the censure be published in the Kansas Reports.

Case No. 128,210: In The Matter of Laine C. Rundus

Disciplinary: Rundus was admitted to the practice of law in 2007. Rundus was charged and convicted of DUI on three different occasions. The Supreme Court temporarily suspended Rundus’ license on April 3, 2024.

The parties entered a summary submission agreement with a jointly recommended suspension of Rundus’ license for one year.

Summary Calendar–No Oral Argument

When a case does not present a new question of law, and oral argument is deemed neither helpful to the court nor essential to a fair hearing of the appeal, it is placed on the summary calendar. These cases are deemed submitted without oral argument.

Appeal No. 125,999: Sarah E. Tharrett, as successor trustee of the Roxine Poznich revocable trust v. David T. Everett

Bourbon County: (Petition for Review, Cross Petition for Review) David T. Everett appeals the district court’s final order granting declaratory relief, which authorized the final distribution of a trust and ordered him to surrender $4,000 in attorney fees from his distribution to the trustee, Sarah E. Tharrett. On appeal, Everett raises several procedural challenges to the proceedings in district court and argues the court abused its discretion in granting Tharrett’s motion for attorney fees. The Court of Appeals stated that the record reflects that Everett, after being sent the final distribution check from the trust, which was calculated in accordance with the district court’s final order, accepted the payment and negotiated the distribution check. The Court of Appeals held that because Everett voluntarily accepted the benefits of the district court’s order, he cannot now take the inconsistent position of appealing from it. Because Everett accepted the district court’s judgment, the Court of Appeals held it lacked jurisdiction over his appeal and dismissed it. The issues on review are whether: 1) the Court of Appeals erred by failing to address Everett’s argument that acquiescence to a void judgment is not possible; 2) the Court of Appeals erred by failing to address Everett’s argument that acquiescence was not properly preserved below; 3) the Court of Appeals erred when it rejected Everett’s self-protection argument; and 4) the Court of Appeals erred when it held that no issue Everett raised was separable from issues he alleged concerning acquiescence.

Appeal No. 126,288: State of Kansas v. Brenton S. Cook

Saline County: (Criminal Appeal) In 2006, a jury convicted Cook of first-degree murder, and he received a hard 25 life sentence. Cook’s convictions were affirmed on appeal and three subsequent motions under K.S.A. 60-1507 were denied. In this motion to correct illegal sentence, he challenges his sentence because his trial violated the merger doctrine, multiplicity, and double jeopardy statutes. The district court immediately denied Cook’s motion. The issue on review is whether the district court erred in immediately denying Cook’s motion to correct an illegal sentence.

Kansas Judicial Branch

Office of Judicial Administration

301 SW 10th Avenue

Topeka, KS 66612-1507

785-296-2256

www.kscourts.gov

 

KS Tax Collections Down From Estimate For November

November Total Tax Collections at $675.5 Million; 3.6% Below the Estimate

TOPEKA – The State of Kansas ends November 2024 with total tax collections at $675.5 million. That is $25.4 million, or 3.6%, below the estimate. Total tax collections are up 4.0% from November 2023.

Individual income tax collections were $335.2 million. That is $15.3 million, or 4.4% below the estimate. Individual income tax collections are up 14.9% from November 2023. Corporate income tax collections were $24.5 million. That is $5.9 million, or 19.4% below the estimate, and down 31.1% from November 2023.

Combined retail sales and compensating use tax receipts were $287.3 million, which is $2.0 million, or 0.7% below the estimate, and down $3.7 million, or 1.3%, from November 2023.

Click here to view the November 2024 revenue numbers.

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100 People Give $100 Campaign For Bourbon County Core Community

“We wanted to tell you about our latest campaign to help raise funds for Bourbon County Core Community,” said Deanna Bett with Core Community. “Our goal is to get 100 people to give $100 by the end of the year, and with giving Tuesday tomorrow, it is the perfect time to promote this much needed organization in Bourbon County. We  also have a very easy way to give where people can use Cash app, Apple Pay or Google Pay. The QR code is on the flyer or here is the link.”

Agenda of the Fort Scott City Commission on Dec. 3

NOTICE OF AND AGENDA FOR REGULAR

MEETING OF FORT SCOTT CITY COMMISSION

City Hall Commission Room – 123 S. Main Street, Fort Scott, KS 66701

December 3, 2024 – 6:00 P.M.

 

  1.     Call to Order
  2.     Roll Call

Tim VanHoecke,   Matthew Wells,   Dyllon Olson,   Kathryn Salsbury,  Tracy Dancer

III.       Pledge of Allegiance

  1. Invocation
  2. Approval of Agenda
  3. Consent Agenda
  4. Approval of Appropriation Ordinance 1373-A – Expense Approval Report – Payment Dates of November 13, 2024, to November 26, 2024, – $1,118,230.10
  5. Approval of Minutes for November 19, 2024, Regular Meeting.

 

VII.      Public Comment

VIII.     Appearances

 

  1. Unfinished Business
  2. Consideration of RESOLUTION NO. 31-2024 – RESOLUTION DIRECTING THE REPAIR OR REMOVAL OF AN ALLEGED UNSAFE AND DANGEROUS STRUCTURE AT 1105 S. STATE Tabled from November 19, 2024,
  3. Consideration of Certificate of Appropriateness – 17 S. Main – Move Sign to New Location – Recommended by Design Review Board on November 12, 2024, and tabled by City Commission on November 19, 2024.

 

  1. New Business

Action Items:

  1. Consideration to Replace Charles Street Lift Station – B. Lemke
  2. Consideration of Verizon Tolling Agreement – B. Farmer
  3. Consideration to set a Budget Hearing on December 17, 2024, for amending the 2024 Budget pertaining to Stormwater Fund No. 719 and Golf Fund No. 219.
  4. Consideration of RESOLUTION NO. 34-2024 A RESOLUTION TO ESTABLISH URBAN AREA BOUNDARY LINES and RESOLUTION NO. 35-2024 A RESOLUTION TO APPROVE URBAN FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM– Wyatt
  5. Request to Pay Heck & Wicker – Project No. 6 U-2455-01 – EEI Project No. 24-414 – Payment No. 5$450,052.32 – J. Dickman

 

  1. Reports and Comments
  2. City Manager Comments
  3. Engineering Comments
  4.  Commissioners Comments
  5. City Attorney Comments

 

XII.     Adjourn

Obituary of Amelia Bower

 

Amelia Elizabeth Bower, age 86, resident of Deerfield, MO, died Saturday, November 30, 2024, at her home.  She was born August 20, 1938, in Fort Scott, KS, the daughter of Marion Alfred Jones and Opal Laoma Gillenwater Jones.

Amelia worked for Mercy Hospital in Fort Scott for over 20 years until her retirement.  She enjoyed visiting with close friends, working crossword and other puzzles, her dogs, and attending Branson, MO shows.  She loved her grandchildren dearly as evidenced by the multitude of pictures adorning her walls.  Amelia was also known to have a sweet tooth.

 

Survivors include her children, Rick Jones, Fort Scott; Jill Love, Tony Bower, and Jason Bower (Thabena), all of Deerfield, MO; 12 grandchildren, Dustin, Kendria, Joshua, Haley, Jessica, Rebecca, Alyson, Quentin, Gavin, Evan, Micala, and Preslee; 14 great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.  She was preceded in death by her husband, John Henry Bower; a son Doug Bower; a brother, Ronald Jones; two sisters, Laoma Ruth Brooks and Vicky Page; and her parents.

 

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM Thursday, December 5th, at the Cheney Witt Chapel.

The family will receive friends from 10:00 until service time Thursday at the funeral home

Memorials are suggested to St. Jude’s Hospital and may be left in care of the Cheney Witt Chapel, PO Box 347, 201 S. Main St., Fort Scott

Mockingbird Setlist

Keys to the Kingdom By Carolyn Tucker

 

The Mockingbird is my favorite because of its singing abilities. I sat on the porch one morning and was wonderstruck at the setlist of this amazing bird! I couldn’t count all the different songs he was performing. His breath control was unbelievable, with strong projection and endless variety. He put me to shame with his early-morning enthusiasm. The song “Mockingbird” is one of my favorites from the 70s, written and recorded by singer songwriters James Taylor and Carly Simon, then husband and wife duo.

 

Poor, poor, pitiful Job was extremely disappointed with his so-called friends who came to comfort him. I don’t know how many days they hung around, but he was fed up with hearing them sing the same ol’ song day after day. He finally said, “I have heard all this before. What miserable comforters you are! Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air? What makes you keep on talking? I could say the same things if you were in my place. I could spout off criticism and shake my head at you. But if it were me, I would encourage you. I would try to take away your grief“ (Job 16:2-5 NLT). Wow, just wow.

 

I wonder if the statement, “With friends like that, who needs enemies?” originated from the Book of Job. The first seven days and nights, they acted like true friends as they simply sat on the ground with him and didn’t say a word because they knew that his suffering was beyond words. But after waiting a week, Job’s friends began to take turns giving unqualified speeches. They tried to convince Job that he had sinned when, in fact, he was blameless and a man of complete integrity who feared God and stayed away from evil. Nevertheless, the threesome gave the same wrong song-and-dance day after day.

 

Eliphaz was the first friend to sing his song of criticism to Job. Then the next verse of insults was blasted by Bildad. Last, but not least, chiming in off-key was Zophar with verse three. He basically sings, “You ain’t nothin’ but a windbag, just a cryin’ all the time” (see  Job 15:2 NLT). This torture trio stunk to high heaven and they just kept doing encores without applause. Job was greatly disturbed and annoyed with his friends who didn’t have a clue that they were hurting more than helping. Instead of pouring oil and wine into Job’s wounded body and soul, the three stooges poured salt in it. Job needed encouragement, not an unsolicited theology lesson.

 

I’ve never had a friend fail to be true blue. My friends have stuck like glue with me through thick and thin and they are blessings straight from God. Reba McEntire recorded a song entitled, “God and My Girlfriends.“ Here’s the refrain: “God and my girlfriends, they’re always there when I’m feeling down, always around, lifting me up. I love how they know me, forgive me, and show me again and again I can depend on God and my girlfriends. Good times and bad, happy or sad, what would I do if I didn‘t have God and my girlfriends.”

 

As Christ followers, let’s determine to be a faithful friend who sticks close to our friends when they’re hurting. Let’s make double sure we’re singing the right song in the right key in perfect timing. Occasionally, we may not know what song to sing that’s OK. A hug is  never in the wrong key.

 

The Key: If you’ve been singing the wrong song to your friend, face the music and change your tune.

Bourbon County Local News