Monthly Archives: December 2018

Obituary

Obituary of Fred Clary

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Frederick Gerald Clary, of Syracuse, Kansas, passed away at the Wesley Woodlawn Hospital in Wichita, on December 1, 2018, at the age of 80. He was born April 19, 1938, in Deerfield, Missouri, the son of Noah Frederick Clary and Lois Vivian (Thurman) Clary.

Gerald spent his entire life in Kansas. He grew up on a farm near Fort Scott where he developed a strong work ethic, a love of the outdoors and animal husbandry, and a passion for tending to the family, friends, and animals in his care. He attended elementary school in Garland and graduated from Fort Scott High School in 1956.

He went on to continue his education at Kansas State University, graduating with a master’s degree in animal nutrition in 1967. He loved flying and bought his first airplane before getting married. On June 2, 1962, he married Rosemary Albright in Fort Scott and they made their home on a farm near there. To this union two daughters were born, Susan and Rae Lynn.

Gerald loved raising cattle and in 1970 took his first job in the feedlot industry, as the assistant manager of High Plains Feedyard in Leoti. Ultimately, he moved his family to Syracuse in 1971 and managed the A.I.D. Feedyard for 3 ½ years. In 1975 he designed, developed, and managed a new feedlot, Cowtown Feeders in Syracuse. In 1992, he began work as a bank loan officer. In 1994, having exhausted his patience for working at a desk in a temperature-controlled office, out of the rain and snow and wind, he was enticed to manage another feedlot until 2008. He then worked as a bank loan inspector, traveling to feedlots in several states, until retiring in 2010. He enjoyed living in Syracuse and resided there until his passing.   

Gerald was a member of the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Garland. He was a member of the Memphis Masonic Lodge #108 in Garland, a perpetual life member of the Syracuse Masonic Lodge #309, and a member of the Johnson Masonic Lodge #441, as well as a member of the Kansas York Rite Bodies in Liberal, and a 32nd Degree KCCH of the Wichita Scottish Rite.

He was a former 4-H project leader and club leader, and past chairman of the Hamilton County Extension Council, both of Syracuse, as well as a past president of the Beef Empire Days in Garden City and a past member of the Kansas Livestock Association.

He enjoyed flying, golfing, spending time in Colorado, taking care of his wife and family, and spending time with his grandkids and family.

Survivors include his wife, Rosemary, of the home; two daughters, Susan Dunham and husband Douglas, Wichita, KS, and Rae Lynn Phillips and husband Steve, Syracuse, KS; four grandchildren, Tim Dunham and wife Sarah, Wichita, KS, Michael Dunham, Wichita, KS, Jake Phillips, Syracuse, KS, and Megan Phillips, Syracuse, KS; one great-granddaughter, Harper Dunham, Wichita, KS; and many family members and friends

. He was preceded in death by a sister, Wanda June Clary; and his parents.

 Memorial Services will be held at 10:00 AM, Saturday, December 15, at the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, Fort Scott, Kansas.

The family will receive friends from 5:30 until 7:00 Friday evening at the Cheney Witt Chapel.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be payable to First United Methodist Church or Masonic Lodge #309, sent in care of Fellers Funeral Home & Monuments LLC, P.O. Box 1253, Syracuse, KS 67878. 620-384-5100.

Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.

Business, Entertainment

Hedgehog.Ink: Storytime and Artist on Dec. 15

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Jan and Dick Hedges, owners of Hedgehog.INK

Hedgehog.INK, a bookstore at 16 S. Main that opened recently, is having a children’s story time on Saturday, Dec. 15 at 10:30 a.m.

Dick Hedges, co-owner of Hedgehog.INK, is the official book labeler, he said.

“Several people said they would like to take their children to the library story time, but work (makes it inconvenient), so we are offering one on Saturdays,” Jan Hedges, one of the owners of the Hedgehog.Ink said.

Following the story time, children will be able to decorate sugar cookies, she said.

“Rob Shaw, from Crooner’s, will be leading the children’s Christmas cookie decorating,” Jan said.

There is a story time each month, always on a Saturday morning, with some type of activity following.

Some of the children’s Christmas books offered at the bookstore.

A little later in the day, an artist will be featured, along with his work.

The store features a local artist each month.

Tony Fornelli, a local woodcarver, will be showing his wares and telling about his work, at 3 p.m. on Dec. 15.

Some of Fornelli’s wood creations.

In addition to the decor, Fornelli also offers carved knives made out of deer antlers.

“He will bring a couple to show, ” she said, “As well as talk about wood carving and how he does it.”

A bio of Tony Fornelli.

In addition to books, the store sells chocolate, lavender products, goat milk products, handmade cards and gift certificates.

Lavender products are produced locally by Betsy and Davin Reichard and sold in Hedgehog.INK.
Goat milk products for skin and hair are locally produced by Locust Hill LaMancha Dairy Goats.
Locally handcrafted Christmas and other cards by Jean Solomonson.
Cards produced by artist Paul Milks.
Jan Hedges shows the chocolates produced in Emporia that are for sale at the store.

Currently, the store is having a writing activity. Store goers are encouraged to write about “What I Love About Christmas.”

 

 

Mercy Hospital

King and Hinton Recognized with Five Star Excellence Award

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Stephanie Hinton, medical assistant III, and Greg King, orthopedic nurse practitioner, received five-star honors for patient care.

Mercy is pleased to announce Greg King, orthopedic nurse practitioner, plus the Mercy Clinic Orthopedic team of King and medical assistant III Stephanie Hinton, have earned the Professional Research Consultants, Inc. (PRC) Five-Star Excellence Award for Provider Services and Overall Care.

The five-star award ranks King and the orthopedic practice in the top 10 percent nationally for “excellent” responses in patient satisfaction surveys.

“I am truly honored and humbled that the people in my hometown place their trust in my care,” King said. “Stephanie and I try our best every day to serve patients in our health care region with compassionate, thoughtful and competent orthopedic care.”

“Receiving this recognition is very nice,” King added. “At the same time, I think these awards say just as much about the quality and character of our patrons who take the time to say a few nice words about their caregivers in a survey. We are fortunate to be able to play a part in the health care for this wonderful community and the surrounding area.”

As nurse practitioner, King offers orthopedic evaluations, joint injections, sports medicine treatment, fracture casting and care, as well as emergency department coverage.

Recipes

From Linderhof’s Kitchen . . . Martha Meinsen Scott

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This is the time of the year that often you need to take something to a party — “finger food” — as it is often called.     Although I have a lot of old favorites, I’m always looking for new recipes. I tasted this first at Kitchen Connections Holiday Open House in Nevada.    It’s one of those simple recipes that you just put together. Often you have all the ingredients on hand, however, I think it needs time to develop so I think it needs to be made a day ahead.

 

ORANGE MARMALADE CREAM CHEESE SPREAD

 

8 ounces softened cream cheese
8 ounces grated cheddar cheese
1 bunch green onions, chopped (unless you buy the big package, then use 6), white and green parts
1 ½ c. mayonnaise
½ c. orange marmalade
¼  cup toasted slivered almonds, chopped
Sliced almonds, for garnish

 

Mix together cream cheese, cheddar cheese, onions and mayonnaise. Add chopped almonds.     Put into a wide shallow dish. Sprinkle with sliced almonds.

 

Chill and serve with crackers (we prefer Ritz).
Martha Meinsen Scott is a Fort Scott foodie who creates from her home, called Linderhof.
Government, Kansas

Kansas Faces Demographic Changes

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KDHE Publishes 2017 Annual Summary of Vital Statistics

The report may suggest Kansas is facing demographic changes.

 

TOPEKA –  The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has posted the Kansas Annual Summary of Vital Statistics, 2017 online at http://www.kdheks.gov/phi/as/2017/Annual_Summary_2017.pdf. The annual report may suggest Kansas is facing demographic changes.

 

“The Annual Summary of Vital Statistics summarizes key demographic and health information gathered from vital event records registered in 2017,” said Lou Saadi, State Registrar and Director Bureau of Epidemiology and Public Health Informatics. “Since the data collected represents the entire population of the State, it serves as an excellent source for policy makers, program managers and the public to assess and study the health of Kansans.”

 

The report documents:

  • slowing population growth and an aging population
  • continuing declines in the number and rate of births
  • total fertility rates below the replacement rate
  • decreases in the rate of natural increase,
  • decreases in marriage rates
  • decreases in teen pregnancy

 

Other trends being noted for 2017 included:

  • homicides in the state increased by 21 percent
  • suicides increased by 6.3 percent
  • unintentional injuries increased by 7.2 percent

 

Kansas’s total population as of July 1, 2017 was estimated at 2,913,123, an increase of 5,834 (0.2%) from the estimate of Kansas’s total population as of July 1, 2016 (2,907,289) released in 2017. The median age of Kansans in 2017 was 36.6 years, a 4.0 percent increase from the median age of 35.2 in 1998. The median ages for men and women were 35.4 and 37.9, respectively.

 

There were 36,464 live births to Kansas resident mothers in 2017. The most recent year with fewer live births was 1976, when there were 35,278 live births. The birth rate in 2017 was 12.5 births per 1,000 population, the lowest rate since Kansas began statewide recording of vital events in 1912.

 

The 2017 birth rate of 12.5 births per 1,000 population is the lowest birth rate on record. The rate is part of a birth rate decrease that began in 2008.

 

One element of the decline in childbearing in recent years is due to factors generally considered desirable: teen pregnancy rates have declined from 32.4 pregnancies per 1,000 young women in the 10-19 age-group in 1998 to 12.7 per 1,000 in 2017.

 

In 2017, the state’s rate of natural increase was 3.3 persons per 1,000 population, a decrease of 19.5 percent from 4.1 per 1,000 population in 2016, and the lowest rate of natural increase in the past twenty years. The rate of natural increase is the birth rate minus the death rate.  A negative value for rate of natural increase would mean the insufficient births are occurring to replace the number of people dying in the state. Over the past 20 years (1998-2017), the rate of natural increase has fluctuated between a maximum of 6.3 persons per 1,000 population (2007) and a minimum of 3.3 persons per 1,000 population (2017).

 

The Kansas total fertility rate (TFR) in 2017 was 2,053 births per 1,000 women of childbearing age. The Kansas TFR has been below the replacement rate of 2,100 for each of the last five years. Total fertility rate is the number of children who would be born per 1,000 women if women were to pass through the childbearing years bearing children according to the current distribution of age-specific fertility rates.

 

Deaths in Kansas, 26,725, represented a 2.3% increase from the 26,129 deaths in 2016. Increases in 2017 over 2016 were noted for selected causes:

  • Suicide, 512 in 2016 to 544 in 2017, up 6.3 percent;
  • Homicide, 148 in 2016 to 179 in 2017, up 21.0 percent;
  • Unintentional Injury, 1,468 in 2016 to 1,573 in 2017, up 7.2 percent.

 

Heart disease with 5,636 deaths was the leading cause of death in 2017, followed by cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, unintentional injuries, and stroke.

 

In 2017, 17,274 marriages occurred in Kansas, a decrease of 3.8 percent from the 2016 total of 17,948 marriages. The Kansas marriage rate in 2017 was 5.9 marriages per 1,000 population. This rate was 4.8 percent lower than the 6.2 marriages per 1,000 population recorded in 2016, and was the lowest rate recorded for the state of Kansas in the last twenty years (1998–2017). For the entire period, Kansas marriage rates have been lower than U.S. marriage rates.

 

The annual summary does not attempt to determine causes for these trends, as it is a summary of events recorded by the KDHE Office of Vital Statistics. Factors impacting the state’s demography can not be discerned from vital event records.

 

Kansas Information for Communities in a query tool the public can use to look at specific birth and death outcomes and prepare statistics.  The web location is http://kic.kdheks.gov/

Bourbon County, Fort Scott, Mercy Hospital

Ambulance Service For Bourbon County

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The Bourbon County Courthouse.

A task force began in October 2018 following the announcing of the closure of Mercy Hospital Fort Scott.

That task force has been meeting weekly since, to work on issues regarding the need for emergency medical services following the closure of Mercy.

“There is a statute that counties are to provide EMS services,” Dave Bruner, a member of the task force said.

“What is in concrete at this point is that the county and the city have signed a contract to provide a service for a year,” Bruner said.

Since both the City of Fort Scott and Bourbon County Commission had already set their budget for 2019 prior to the announcement of Mercy closing, it put them in an uncertain financial position to provide those emergency medical services.

Fort Scott City Hall

“We said ‘let’s put this together and after a year, look at the contract’,” Bruner said.

“When Mercy announced the closure, they have to give 180 days notice,” Bruner said. “So April 1 is when we will be fully Bourbon County EMS.”

“In the meantime from Jan. 1 to April 1, there will be a change of labels on the ambulances,” he said. “Mercy is obligated until April 1. They will still be employees of Mercy.”

There are currently six full-time employees and 16 part-time employees of Mercy EMS.

“We are going to do our best to retain all of them,” Bruner said. “The city will run the day to day  operations of the service-the staffing of ambulances and dispatch.”

The county will pay a subsidy to the city and handle the billing.

“There is a goal to establish a third-party entity to do the billing for the county,” Bruner said.

“The first responders (in emergency situations) in the small towns will continue to be local volunteer fire departments and EMT’s,” he said.

This provides help until the ambulance can arrive on sight of the emergency.

“The goal is to keep the same familiar faces,” Bruner said. “The only thing that will change will be the names on the ambulance and the uniforms.”

“My goal is to give the EMS a place to call their own facility,” he said

Currently, the task force is in negotiations.

“We don’t have a list of what Mercy is donating yet,” Justin Meeks, Bourbon County Legal Counselor said.

“We hope donations will be finalized by Dec. 18,” Meeks said.

Under discussion in negotiations  are vehicles, equipment and facilities.

The task force is comprised of Nick Ruhl, Meeks, Jody Hoener from the county; Dave Martin, Bruner, Robert Uhler, Paul Ballou, Rhonda Dunn and Deb Needleman from the city; and Christi Keating from Mercy.