Monthly Archives: July 2017

Obituary

Obituary: Cleland F. Allen

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Submitted by Cheney Witt Funeral Home

Cleland F. Allen, age 85, a resident of Fort Scott, Kan., passed away early Saturday, July 8, 2017, at the Medicalodge of Fort Scott.

He was born September 29, 1931, in Arkansas City, Kan., the son of McKinley Allen and Inez Adams Allen.  He graduated from the Mound City High School with the Class of 1949.  Cleland served for twenty years with the United States Air Force.  He retired in 1971 with the rank of Tech Sargent.  Following his military service, he married Mary Dauben on April 16, 1976, in Nevada, Mo.  He worked for a time for Key Industries and also worked as a long haul trucker.  He then worked for several years for Bourbon County.  He enjoyed traveling, reading and spending time with his family.  He was a member of the Cherry Grove Baptist Church, the American Legion and the Olson Frary Burkhart Post #1165 Veterans of Foreign Wars where he frequently served with the VFW honor guard.  He was also a past member of the Lions Club.

Survivors include his children Rodney Allen and wife, Sandy, of Deer Lodge, Mont., Gary Simons and wife, Liz, of Kearney, Mo., Larry Joe Simons and wife, Kim, of Fort Scott, Janice Briggs and husband, Dusty, of Bushton, Kan., Sandra Newton and husband, Paul Joe, of Fort Scott, Connie Simons, of Fairview, Okla., Pam Riedel, of Liberty, Mo., and Diane Gray and husband, Rob, of Fort Scott; 19 grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.  Also surviving are two sisters, Vada Casteel and husband, Max, of Clinton, Mo., and Joyce Allen, of Fort Scott; a sister-in-law, Minnie Lou Allen, of Fort Scott and numerous nieces and nephews.    His wife, Mary, preceded him in death on February 1, 2014.  He was also preceded in death by two sons, Bobby Simons and Billy Simons; two brothers, Morris and Ottis Allen, a grandson, a great-grandson and a niece.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, July 13, at the Cheney Witt Chapel.  Burial will follow in the U. S. National Cemetery, where military honors will be provided by the Olson Frary Burkhart Post #1165 Veterans of Foreign Wars.  The family will receive friends on Thursday from 9 a.m. until service time at the Cheney Witt Chapel.  Memorials are suggested to the Cherry Grove Baptist Church 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.com.

 

Fort Scott

FSHS Thespians Win National Grant; Attend International Festival

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Submitted by Angie Bin

“There will be Drama” was the theme of this year’s International Thespian Festival and the phrase proved true for 25 Fort Scott High School Thespian troupe members who were lucky enough to attend this year’s festival for free.

Photo Credit: Angie Bin

FSHS Thespian troupe #7365 was selected by the Educational Theatre Association (EdTA) as a 2017 Send a Troupe to Festival Grant winner. The festival at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, June 19-24, was $740 per student which included rooming and meals each day and admittance to all the shows, workshops and late night activities.

FSHS Junior Ally Heenan said, “It was an amazing opportunity to experience and I feel extremely lucky to have been able to go. I made many friends and I feel it brought our troupe closer together as a family.”

Having never attended festival before, FSHS qualified for the grant by completing an in-depth application and providing an administrative recommendation letter from Superintendent Bob Beckham. As grant recipients, the FSHS troupe was recognized in front of more than 4,000 students and troupe directors on the main stage during the festival.

According to EdTA, the festival is a celebration of student achievement in the performing arts and a one-of-a-kind, weeklong immersion experience in singing, dancing, acting, designing, directing, creating, writing and memory-making. Festival featured workshops presented by theatre professionals, individual and group performances, programs for technical theatre students, and opportunities to audition for college admission and scholarships. Some students travelled from as far away as China and Dubai to attend this year.

“It made me have more of a passion for theatre,” said FSHS sophomore Carlee Studyvin.  “Meeting people from all over the U.S. was something that I will never forget.”

FSHS Junior Mary Gladbach added, “It was so exciting to be surrounded by people who I could share my love of theatre with, we were all complete strangers, but we still felt connected because of our shared passion.”

Theatrical make-up design, specialized choreography, playwriting and improvisational acting were some of the most popular types of workshops among the Fort Scott troupe. FSHS Thespian President Hunter Adamson, junior, also benefitted from a special class on Leadership that she attended each day. Many students attended panel discussions over productions they saw and even met the musicals’ composers.

FSHS Thespian Director Angie Bin, FSHS English teacher Mark Bergmann, and parent chaperone Mindy Bartlett also attended the festival.

Bourbon County

Sheriff’s Department Gives Tours of New Center

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The Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office provided tours of the new Law Enforcement Center Thursday during the weekly Chamber Coffee, and continues to provide tours for those from the public interested in seeing the work done so far on the building.

“I just can’t thank you guys enough for getting us to where we’re at,” Sheriff Bill Martin said, saying it is because of the county leaders and the voters and county residents that the new building is being constructed.

Employees of the Sheriff’s Office are expected to be able to move into the new building in October, when they will begin training with the new building and equipment before moving the inmates in by the new year.

“It’s going to be an awesome facility,” City Manager Dave Martin said, praising those involved with the project.

Opinion

Patty LaRoche: Picked First

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Do you remember the classroom spelling bee? The game Red Rover? Playground softball matches? For all three, captains were picked, and in front of the hopefuls desperate not to be last, they selected their teammates. Too many times that last one chosen was the same person, no matter the contest. He/she knew it was coming.

Public humiliation at its finest!

As a teacher, I knew that competition could be a fun motivator, but when I used it, I never picked the top student as captain. Those students who elected to sit in the back of the classroom, those with little-or- no eye contact, those whose clothes labeled them unpopular, were selected. The three of us would meet in the hall to choose the lineups, and the leaders were instructed that when we returned to the classroom and announced the teams, we would say the names in reverse order of how they were picked. Sometimes we would start in the middle, but we never began with the ones recognized as the best.

It’s no secret that everyone needs to matter. Rich or poor. Christian or atheist. Educated or uneducated. There are no exceptions. Being chosen validates us. Maybe that’s why the central focus of scripture is that God chose us. Did we deserve it? Definitely not! (With my past, I’d be lucky to stand on the sidelines and cheer.)

God sees things differently.

He is good at that.

In the Old Testament, Haggai the prophet is told by God to instruct two people, Zerubbabel, the governor’s son, and Joshua, the high priest’s son, to rebuild the Temple which their enemy destroyed 66 years before. There have been previous, paltry attempts at reconstruction, but work has stalled as the men become discouraged because their workmanship pales in comparison to Solomon’s original structure.

The warning from God is stern as He jolts them into action. Patty’s paraphrase: “You certainly don’t have a problem tiling and re-carpeting your own homes, but Mine looks like a tornado leveled it. Not cool.”

Just 23 days after Haggai’s message, the men get to work. God continues to instruct Haggai to tell Zerubbabel that devastation will befall the foreign lands of their enemies, but then affirms what He will do next. “On that day, I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you.” Power-punched words to end this Old Testament book. “I. Have. Chosen. You.” Of all the Israelites, Zerubbabel was labeled a favorite.

We have the same opportunity, no matter what worldly designation we have been given.

If we are a Jesus-follower, we need to thank God (literally) that He looked down from His throne and, ignoring what the world has to say, offered grace to everyone, even those defined as a “last pick:” the teenager with the kinky hair and the crooked nose; the boy who can’t hit a baseball; the girl whose parents will abandon her; the murderer; you; and me.

God chooses the ones who will love Him back, repent of their sins and become new creations in Christ. But there’s more good news: In God’s kingdom, there are no last picks. We might be the outcast on everyone else’s list, but we all are first on His.

We. Are. Chosen.

But don’t shout “Hallelujah!” too soon. It doesn’t end there.

One question remains which we need to ask ourselves: “Have we chosen Him?”

Fort Scott

Sachau Completes Final Shifts with Mercy

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After serving as part of the team at Mercy Hospital since 2010, Dr. Amy Sachau worked her last day there on July 5, after deciding to transition away from full-time and work and closer to her hometown of Overland Park.

Photo Credit: Mercy Hospital

“We have felt so loved in Fort Scott,” Sachau says, adding the rural hospital was just what she was looking for after completing her family medicine residence. “It is an honor to have worked at Mercy Fort Scott, as I feel the focus truly is on the care of our patients.”

Sachau will be starting an employee health clinic for the Shawnee Mission School District, where she attended school. There she will be able to care for the large school district’s employees and their families while spending more time with her two daughters, age 8 and 10 years, and living within walking distance of her mother.

“It was an incredibly difficult, tear-filled decision,” Sachau says, saying she wants to take advantage of the time she has with her daughters as they continue to grow up. “My new position will be part time, and will not require working nights, weekends and holidays, so I can spend that time with my family.”

While looking forward to moving closer to home and spending more time with family, Sachau said she will miss the community of Fort Scott, its slower pace and the friendliness of the residents and hospital staff.

“I love my co-workers at Mercy, and in fact, this is the very hardest part of leaving,” Sachau says. “My staff bends over backwards for our patients—and for me—day after day, and I could never thank them enough.”

Mercy staff also spoke highly of Sachau and her care for her patients.

“It has been an amazing experience working for Dr. Sachau,” says Kyla Probasco. R.N., of the Mercy Clinic. “She has always provided exceptional care for her patients. Their love and appreciation for her has been very apparent the last few months and speaks volumes for her character.

“This community is really going to miss her. I consider it an honor to be a part of her team and have always been proud to say, ‘I am Dr. Sachau’s nurse.’ I am extremely sad that Dr. Sachau is leaving, but am so happy for her and her family and all of their future endeavors together.”

Business, Fort Scott

Care 4 U Opens New Medical Equipment Store

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Having provided in-home care for Bourbon and neighboring counties for almost six years, the owners of Care 4 U are now adding another business, Your Hometown Medical Equipment, which will sell medical items needed in the county, after other similar stores have closed.

Glen Pearson, Jr., and sister-in-law Rachel Pearson run Care 4 U and now the medical equipment store, after recently receiving the necessary licenses for the store.

Glen has been involved in aspects of the medical care field since serving at a nursing home when he was a teenager. Since then he has sold medical equipment in a prior business and then opened Care 4 U as a hobby, which has grown to include 50 employees who care for 45 clients, some for only a few hours a day while others require 24-hour care.

Most of those employees are from Fort Scott and must go through five background checks and screenings before they can help take care of Care 4 U’s clients. While the business hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., they are also on call at any time. Care can be paid for through Medicaid or private pay.

“Here at Care 4 U, we do everything we can to keep you or your loved one at home,” Rachel said during a recent Chamber of Commerce event Thursday, saying they take care of their clients through medical care as well as house-cleaning and running errands.

Glen said through his time working with nursing homes, he often felt sorry for those who were taken there and then forgotten about or visited only rarely. In keeping them at home, Glen said the clients can be somewhere where they are more comfortable and where it is also more economical.

As Care 4 U continued to grow, Glen said he decided he wanted to get back into the medical equipment business as well, which led to Your Hometown Medical Equipment.

The store is to be open with the end of the long holiday weekend and can be found at the same location as the Care 4 U office, at 5 E. Wall Street.

Fort Scott

Square Dancing Great Grandma Doesn’t Miss a Beat Because of Cancer

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Submitted by Tina Rockhold, Mercy Hospital

At 70 years old, Roxine Poznich simply isn’t ready to retire or let a cancer diagnosis interfere with her plans. So when she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the square-dancing great grandma handled the do-si-do with the disease with determination.

Roxine with her dancing partner Ron Buhr at the 2014 National Square Dancing Convention in Little Rock.

The Diagnosis

Roxine’s cancer was diagnosed in late February.

“I wasn’t feeling bad, nor did I have any symptoms of any illness,” she said. “I’ve always been active and healthy so it never occurred to me I might have cancer.”

But she decided to take advantage of a heart and vascular screening that Mercy was promoting during National Heart Month.

“I thought it wouldn’t hurt to have that checked. When the radiology technician used ultrasound to check the arteries in my neck, ankles and abdomen for blockage, I certainly was not expecting her to find a softball-sized tumor just below my ribs.”

Roxine has worked as a level 2 histology technician at Mercy Hospital Fort Scott for 26 years.

“I see my co-workers in imaging services almost daily and I consider them my friends. Knowing that they were able to find the tumor makes me even more grateful for their expertise and the compassionate way they treat patients.”

Roxine with co-workers, friends and Mercy radiology technicians Leslie May and Kristen Rank. Photo Credit: Mercy Hospital

The Care Team

“Learning I had cancer was a shock. I was nervous about my treatment, so I wanted to be somewhere I knew the people caring for me. Plus, I wanted to stay in Fort Scott so I didn’t have the extra burden of traveling out of town.

“I knew I could count on the team at Mercy’s Cancer Care Unit of Hope to provide the best care available. Dr. Nassim Nabbout, oncologist/hematologist with Cancer Center of Kansas, took me under his wing and explained to me the process for surgery and treatment. He was kind, straightforward and honest – exactly what I needed to tackle the disease.

“I can’t say enough good things about Dr. Nabbout and the Mercy Cancer Care Unit of Hope nurses. The care is as good if not better than if I had traveled to a large hospital or bigger city. Our community is so fortunate to have this clinic at the hospital.”

The Outlook

Fortunately, Roxine’s form of cancer is slow growing and treatment success rates are high. She was even able to work throughout her eight weeks of treatment except for the actual days she received the drug rituximab.

Once her treatment was complete, she was released and back to dancing again.

The Privileges of Partnership

Mercy has partnered with Cancer Center of Kansas since 2008 to provide oncology/hematology services in Fort Scott. Through the Cancer Center of Kansas’ relationships with such well-known programs as M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., the program offers Mercy Fort Scott patients the most current cancer research in detection, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, control and quality of life. To learn more about the physicians and treatments available at Mercy Cancer Care Unit of Hope, call 620-223- 8589.

Fort Scott

Fort Scott Shows its Patriotism

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The Fort Scott National Historic Site began to celebrate Independence Day over the weekend with the Symbols of Sacrifice memorial displaying thousands of American flags placed in honor of every American soldier who died for the United States since the Revolutionary War.

Other demonstrations were also given to fort visitors Saturday by volunteers dressed in period clothing. Further events and demonstrations will be available for visitors throughout the day on Tuesday. See here for another FortScott.biz article for details on the schedule of events.

Volunteers from scout troops as well as families and other individuals placed the flags Thursday and the flags will remain in place through Sunday, July 9. Fort staff invites volunteers to help remove the flags Monday, July 10.

Bourbon County

KSU Extension: Summer Plant Problems Emerging

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Submitted by Krista Harding

Summer is officially upon us now, and it has brought some common plant problems with it. We have had plenty of moisture and to date, our plants haven’t really had to be “tough” yet this growing season. Now that the temperatures have risen and we are not getting rain quite as often, some plants are starting to show environmental stress.

I have started getting calls about Walnut and River Birch trees having problems. The trees have yellow leaves scattered throughout the canopy and some are dropping leaves. How do you know if this is a serious problem for a tree? Generally speaking, it depends on the tree species and if the leaves stay attached to it. If leaves have fallen from throughout the tree and resulted in a general thinning of leaves, this is not a serious problem. Trees will often set more leaves in the spring than they can support during the summer. Heat and drought stress will cause the tree to lose leaves that it cannot support with the available soil moisture. Remember that our plants haven’t had to be “tough” yet. We can have green leaves drop that appear perfectly healthy. As long as the leaf drop results in a gradual thinning of the leaves, this is not a serious problem and the tree should be fine.

Sometimes, virtually all of the leaves drop. Certain trees, such as hackberry, can drop all of their leaves and enter summer dormancy. We are a bit early in the summer for this to occur, but it may happen soon if we turn off really hot and dry. If trees are affected by summer dormancy, they should still have supple twigs and healthy buds. Usually the effect on the health of the tree is very minor and the tree leafs out normally next spring. However, if the buds die and the twigs become brittle, at least part of the tree is dead.

Trees that have leaves that die and remain attached to the tree is a serious problem. Sometimes this happens in what seems like just overnight. In a case like this, the tree couldn’t keep up with moisture demands and died quickly. I have seen one case of this already. I believe it was due to the cold snap last December 18, when we got very close to zero temperatures. Damage to underlying tissues is the root cause of this problem.

Another problem that is starting to appear this time of year is two tomato leaf-spot diseases. Septoria leaf spot and early blight are both characterized by brown spots on the leaves. Septoria leaf spot is characterized by small dark spots whereas early blight spots are much larger and have distorted “target” pattern of concentric circles. These diseases usually start at the bottom of the plant and work up. Mulching, caging or staking to keep plants off the ground will make them less vulnerable to diseases by providing better air circulation so the foliage can dry quicker. Mulching also helps prevent water from splashing and carrying disease spores to the plant.

In situations where these diseases have been a problem in the past (or even this year), rotation is a good strategy. Obviously it is too late for that this year. Fungicides are often helpful. The active ingredient Chlorothalonil is a good choice to use. It can be found in numerous products including Fertilome Broad-Spectrum Landscape and Garden Fungicide; Ortho Garden Disease Control; Bonide Fungonil and others. Be sure to start protecting the plants when the disease is first noticed. It is all but impossible to control these diseases on heavily infected plants. Read labels for harvest waiting periods.

Don’t forget that most of the Extension services are free of charge! If you are experiencing plant problems, don’t hesitate to give me a call for diagnosis.

Krista Harding is a K-State Research and Extension Agricultural agent assigned to Southwind District. She may be reached at 620-244- 3826 or [email protected]

Business, Fort Scott

East Side Liquor opens in Fort Scott

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Fort Scott welcomed a new business to town in the past month with the opening of East Side Liquor store at 1516 E. Wall Street.

After a soft opening about a month ago, the store had a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday morning to celebrate the work of Lyle Brittain, Liz Monteil and their families to open the new store in the empty building.

“I think it’s incredible that a young couple would invest in an endeavor like this in Fort Scott,” Mayor JoLynne Mitchell said during the event. “I could not be more proud of this young couple and their dedication.”

City Manager Dave Martin said he admired the entrepreneurial spirit of the couple and is happy to see more young people decide to stay in Fort Scott.

“Congratulations,” chamber of commerce Executive Director Lindsay Madison said, adding she is glad to see another empty building put to use. “We’re excited to officially have you open.”

The store’s doors will be open Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.

“We are super excited,” Monteil said about their store opening.