Monthly Archives: December 2023

Bourbon County, Fort Scott, History

Wreaths Across America in Two Locations in Bourbon County in 2023

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National Cemetery, Fort Scott.

Two Bourbon County cemeteries will be a part of Wreaths Across America, a national program to honor U.S. Military Veterans with wreaths on their graves.

According to its website, the mission of Wreaths Across America (WAA) is to remember the fallen, honor those who serve, and teach the next generation the value of freedom. Volunteers work year-round to share this mission and inspire others to join.
Submitted graphic.
Diann Tucker is the WAA Location Coordinator for Fort Scott National Cemetery.
Tucker said for the last five years, there have been enough funds raised to place wreaths on all the veteran’s graves at the national cemetery.
A submitted graphic from Tucker telling of the speaker and the agenda for the ceremony.
“About 6,800 wreaths will be placed on December 16,” she said. “The ceremony starts at 10 a.m., immediately followed by the laying of the wreaths.”
“A youth group will be driving golf carts to pick up and take them back to their cars,” she said.
The Wreaths Across America transport truck will arrive from Columbia Falls, Maine, at 8 a.m. driven by a veteran.
“We can always use volunteers to off-load from the truck,” Tucker said.
Fundraising for the project is all year round.
“At $17 a wreath and 6,800 graves, it is $115,600 (in funds raised) this year,” Tucker said.
For more information contact Tucker at 620-224-7054 or 620-223-6700.
Uniontown Ruritan Club has initiated a project this year to place wreaths on the veterans in the Uniontown Cemetery.
“We began discussing this in the summer and a couple of months ago decided to move forward with it,” Mary Pemberton, spokesperson for the club said. “It is headed up by Mark Warren, Larry and Judy Jurgensen and myself.”
“Wreaths Across America started in 1992 in Arlington Cemetery and expanded from there,” Pemberton said. “Local cemeteries can participate as well. Funding is from donations and volunteers do the ceremony and lay the wreaths.”
The Uniontown ceremony will be on December 15 at 1:30 p.m.
“Schools gets out early that day and several students will help lay the wreaths,” Pemberton said. “The Uniontown High School band and choir will perform. Mark Warren will be the speaker.”
The names of the veterans will be read as the wreaths are laid.
“The public is invited and encouraged to attend,” Pemberton said.
“If any relative of a veteran in Uniontown Cemetery would like to lay the wreath on their vet’s grave they just need to let us know before to that.”
For more information contact Pemberton at 620-224-9654.
Bourbon County

Bourbon County Inter-Agency Coalition General Membership Meeting Minutes  

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Bourbon County Inter-Agency Coalition

General Membership Meeting Minutes

 

December 6, 2023

 

 

  1. Welcome:  Billie Jo welcomed twenty members representing thirteen agencies.  She informed the members that the board had approved an expenditure for bicycles for the “Adopt-a-Child” program at Beacon.

 

  1. Member Introductions and Announcements:
  • Sandra Haggard, RSVP: The next Bourbon County Red Cross blood drive will be December 21 and 22 at Buck Run Community Center.  Sandy needs a few more volunteers.  Billie Jo will forward Sandy’s schedule to the membership; contact Sandy if you are available to help.
  • David Gillen, Beacon: In November Beacon had 325 families, including 11 new families, utilize services; they served a total of 749 people.  All 79 families for the Adopt-A-Child program have been adopted!
  • Lea Kay Karleskint, K-State Research: Always looking for partners to supply space for her nutrition programs.
  • Elizabeth Schafer, Pioneer Kiwanis, CASA: These programs need volunteers!
  • Tammy Alcantar, Crawford County Health Department: Tammy reviewed classes she is able to provide in Bourbon County; contact her if you have clients who would benefit from participating.
  • Christine Abbott, SEK Works: There has been a change of appointment hours in the Fort Scott office:  Monday through Thursdays, 10 a.m. until 3p.m.  Walk-ins should come before or after those hours.  The Youth Summit was held in November with a few more than 150 young adults participating.  Chelsea Walker is the new Career Advisor; she will begin coming to the Fort Scott office soon.
  • Tess Watson: Tess’s program, based in Columbus, has recently expanded to include Bourbon County.  The program provides beds for children who are sleeping on the floor or on a couch.  To date, Tess has been able to provide 1500 beds for children.
  • Janelle Tate, Early Childhood Block Grant and Dee Dee LeFever, Greenbush Community Liaison, are in the process of planning a training event for the Early Childhood Coalition to be held in April alongside the Child Care Aware program. They will provide specific details at a later date.
  • Kathy Romero, Angel Care Home Health: They provide skilled nursing to clients in their homes; sixty of their present clients (30%) are in our Bourbon County area.
  • Travis Wilcoxsen, Angel Care Home Health: The focus right now is upper respiratory; they will serve patients with Covid.  Goal is to them better, off service, and back where they want to be.
  • Heather, Walker-Shepherd, CHC and USD 234:  Heather goes into the homes to work with the families in USD 234.  She is also a certified tobacco treatment specialist.
  • Michelle Stevenson, Fort Scott Early Childhood Pre-School Center: She is a resource for the parent; she has begun screening for next year.
  • Nick Johnson, USD 234 Pre-School: Screenings are held every month; contact the Pre-School with referrals.

 

  1. Program:  CHC: Tobacco Cessation presented by Brenda, Stokes Lisa Wells, and Jennelle Knight

 

Tobacco usage for Bourbon County residents over eighteen years of age is much higher than the state average.  CHC offers individual and group programs to help participants free themselves from tobacco use and has recently been able to pilot these cessation classes in Bourbon County.  Jennelle is now able to train tobacco treatment specialists; all participants in her first class were Bourbon County residents.  CHC will soon be implementing a program, including the dangers of vaping, to work with students in the schools.  Their grant also allows CHC to work with employers to help them provide tobacco free work spaces. Currently, the programs have no fees if the participant’s insurance does not pay.  Often participants need to repeat the class in order to become completely tobacco free.  CHC patients are able to get low-cost or free medications to help the process so cost should not be a negative factor for the participants.

 

  1. Open Forum:
  • Billie Jo reminded members of the inclement weather policy; she will send a message before 9:00 a.m. if a General Meeting needs to be cancelled due to weather.

 

  1. Adjournment:  The next General Membership meeting will be January 3, 2024.
  • The program will be presented by Tess Watson on her bed project.

 

Government, Kansas

Flags Half-Staff For Sandra Day O’Connor

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Governor Kelly Orders Flags to be Flown at
Half-Staff in Honor of Former Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor


TOPEKA – In accordance with Executive Order 20-30 and following the proclamation of President Joe Biden, Governor Laura Kelly has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff from sunrise until sunset on Tuesday, December 19, 2023, in honor of Sandra Day O’Connor, former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

“Sandra Day O’Connor blazed a trail not just on the Supreme Court but for women at every level of government,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “Dedicated, impartial, and pragmatic, she sought consensus on the toughest issues facing the court, shaping the country as we know it today. My sincere condolences go out to her family.”

To receive email alerts when the governor orders flags to half-staff, please visit https://governor.kansas.gov/newsroom/kansas-flag-honors.

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Stay Conn
Church news, Fort Scott

Construction on New Catholic Church and Rectory Has Started

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The architect’s rendition of the future Mary Queen of Angels Catholic Church. Submitted graphic.

The area south and west of  St. Mary’s Catholic School is a hub of construction.

The August 2022 lightning-strike fire at Mary Queen of Angels Catholic Church destroyed the structure.

“Fr. Yancey Burgess, the pastor, said the destruction was too great to repair the old church,”  according to a news article in https://catholicdioceseofwichita.org/new-church-planned-for-fort-scott/. “The engineers have said it would be cost prohibitive to try to rebuild it because the church would lose its ‘grandfather’ status and would have to meet modern building codes.”

Simpson Construction Services, Wichita, is the general contractor for the new church building and has two employees on site, Howard Thome, superintendent, and Tyler Fox, field engineer.

The new church site is located at 702 Eddy, in approximately the same spot as the old one.

Fox said there are approximately 26 sub-contractors from start to finish on the project.

Construction began in November 2023.

“The church will be a little over 7,000 square feet,” Fox said. “The owner occupancy is expected to be November 2024.”

 

On December 5, R2 Concrete Construction, Fort Scott, was pouring the footings.

The gate to the construction site of the new Mary Queen of Angels Catholic Church.

“We had to go down to bedrock,” Thome said. “We put in a lean concrete to bring it up to bedding. The footing is on top, so should be stable.”

“We should pour the slab in the next couple of weeks,” Fox said. “Then start erecting steel in late January.”

The project is being funded partly through insurance because the church was struck by lightning in August 2022, according to Bo Casper, a church member and also a sub-contractor on the rectory building.

Above 95 percent of the original stained glass windows was saved from the fire/water damage and will be reinstalled in the new church, according to Mark McCoy, who is on the parish building committee.

It is also being funded by a capital campaign that the church parish is doing, McCoy said.

The church will be ADA-accessible with a zero-entry to the church.

The cost of the church rebuild is approximately $6.5 million, McCoy said.

The banner on the outside fence of the construction site.

To view a prior story about the fire:

Fire at Fort Scott’s Catholic Church Causes Extensive Damage

The church was built in 1872, according to https://www.mqaftscott.com/history/

“The church was one of those founded by Italian-born Fr. Paul M. Ponziglione who helped establish many churches after he arrived in 1851 at the Osage Mission in Kansas” according to the article https://catholicdioceseofwichita.org/new-church-planned-for-fort-scott/“Because of the Fort Scott fire, St. Francis Church in St. Paul is now the oldest church in the diocese.”

Church Rectory

Looking east from the new church rectory at 720 Holbrook to the construction site of the church. St. Mary’s Catholic School is to the left in the photo.

Casper Enterprises, a local company, was working on the church rectory, at 720 Holbrook, west of the new church building on December 5.

The Catholic Rectory of Mary Queen of Angels Catholic Church is being framed. The location is 720 Holbrook.

Bo Casper said the crew started the framing in November (2023 )of the 1,634 square foot home the church’s priest will live in. It will have three bedrooms, two baths, a large garage and a saferoom.

The rectory should be completed by the end of February 2024 “If the weather cooperates,” Casper said.

The lot where the rectory is being built belonged to the church.

The rectory was torn down and the site moved “because the church was totaled and had to be ADA compliant and needed more parking spaces,” Casper said. “We had to gain footage and tear down the rectory. It was just as old as the church. Bats were coming in through the chimney area. It was a three-story high brick building.”

The new rectory will have a brick facade and regular siding on the rear and sides of the building, Casper said.

The concrete has been poured at the rectory, and the three-man crew is currently framing, which will be done by the end of the week, Casper said.

Bo Casper left, and Frank Casper work on framing the rectory.

The cost of the rectory is approximately $325,000, McCoy said.

 

Obituary

Obituary of Dirk Myers

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Dirk Randel Myers, 66, resident of Pittsburg, Kansas, passed away late Sunday evening, November 26, 2023. He was born November 8, 1957, in Lawton, Oklahoma, the son of Richard “Dick” Evan Myers and Virginia Joyce (Yoke) Myers.

 

He grew up in Fort Scott and graduated from Fort Scott High School in 1976. After graduation, he attended The Kansas City Art Institute where he graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in 1980.  Upon graduation he worked as a free-lance artist; some of his work included the brochure for the First Annual Homes for the Holiday Tour, the Pioneer Harvest Fiesta advertisement in the Fort Scott Tribune, and many items for the United Methodist Church of which he was a member. He moved to Pittsburg, Kansas and continued as a free-lance artist while working for the Senior Center. He was retired but continued to display and sell his artwork. Dirk loved the Lord, and his family with all his heart.

 

Dirk is survived by his mother, Virginia Myers, of Fort Scott; two sisters, Lesa D. Butler and husband Steve, of Lucas, Texas, Bridget A. Reber and husband Hobie of Lake Winnebago, Missouri; and five nieces and nephews, Kayla Blevins, Jennifer Butler, Samuel, Maxwell, Ava Reber and one great-nephew Asher Blevins.

He was preceded in death by his father, Dick Myers and grandparents Francis and Dorothy Myers and George and Essie Yoke.

Following cremation, the family will hold a private graveside service in July of 2024.

Condolences may be submitted to the online guestbook at konantz-cheney.com.

 

Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes

Tree of Heroes Tradition to Honor Heroes in Our Lives

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Sending on behalf of Chamber Member

Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes…..

The Perfect Gift!

Join us in spreading holiday cheer and honoring our heroes!

Purchase a special ornament and be part of our new “Tree of Heroes” tradition. Your contribution supports those who make a positive difference every day.

One Custom Ornament – $5

(placed on the Tree of Heroes at the LMC)

Set of Two Ornaments – $15

One Custom Ornament

(placed on the Tree of Heroes at the LMC)

One Gift Ornament

(gift wrapped to give to your Hero)

The perfect gift for

*Parents

*Grandparents

*Teachers

*Role Models

Ornaments available for purchase at the

Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes

1 South Main St. Fort Scott, KS 66701

Let’s fill the tree with gratitude and love!
Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce | 231 E. Wall Street, Fort Scott, KS 66701
Obituary

Obituary of Shirley Doty

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Shirley Mae Andrews Doty, loving wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and great great grandmother passed away Friday, December 1, 2023, in Fort Scott, KS. She was 84 years old.

Shirley grew up in Arma, KS. She married Orval in August 1960. The fall of 1966, Shirley started college at Fort Scott Community College. After graduation, Shirley attended Pittsburg State University. She graduated with a major in Education in 1971. Shirley taught Kindergarten in Lansing, KS for one year. She then taught Kindergarten at Sunflower Elementary, DeSoto, and then moved to teaching Second grade at DeSoto Elementary. She retired after teaching 33 years. Shirley then joined Orval and lived in Fort Scott the remainder of her life.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Orval, her parents, Harold Andrews and Mary Endicott Jones, a sister, Betty Andrews Holland, and an infant son, Terry Wayne Colvin.

She is survived by her children; Jacque Doty, Ft Scott, Orval Doty (Teresa), Blue Mound, David Doty, DeSoto, Susan Plummer, (Dave) DeSoto, John Doty Ft Scott; her grandchildren, Brooke Crossley, Brad Crossley (Emma), Brittany Kibel, Amy Reynolds (Wally), William Doty (Andrea), Kristina Lohmyer (Eric), Amanda Plummer, Dylan Doty; her great grandchildren, Amy, Cameron, Kimber, Tristan, Kaylee, Madaline, Julia, Lucas, Adeline, Emma, Chase, Peyton, Brady; and her great great granddaughter, Luna. She also leaves behind her sister, Josie Harris Stilwell Ok and many cousins, nieces, nephews, and extended family who will miss her very much.

There was cremation.  Memorial services will be held at 1:00 PM Saturday, December 16th, at the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main St., Fort Scott, KS 66701.  Interment will take place at a later date in the U. S. National Cemetery, Fort Scott.  Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.

Government, Health Care

Sen. Moran Introduces Legislation to Expand Rural Emergency Hospital Designation  

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) today introduced the Rural Emergency Hospital Adjustment Act that would allow previously closed rural hospitals to potentially re-open and apply for the Rural Emergency Hospital designation if they can demonstrate they met all eligibility requirements between Jan. 1, 2015 and Dec. 27, 2020.

The REH designation was created as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 to enable certain hospitals to convert to the new Medicare provider designation, which helps rural hospitals to continue operating with limited services rather than closing. Currently, hospitals are only eligible for the designation if they met the requirements when the legislation was signed into law on Dec. 27, 2020.

 “Access to outpatient and emergency services often determines if a rural community can survive,” said Sen. Moran. “More than 100 rural hospitals have closed since 2015, and this legislation will allow these hospitals an opportunity to re-open and serve their communities.”

The Rural Emergency Hospital Adjustment Act would extend the eligibility date back to Jan. 1, 2015, for hospitals that were either critical access hospitals or rural hospitals with no more than 50 beds.

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Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes

Lowell Milken Center Participating in the 35th Annual Toybox Campaign

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The Lowell Milken Center has joined the 35th Annual Toybox campaign which runs through December 12. It is one of the 4-States’ largest toy drives to benefit underprivileged children in Southeast Kansas, Southwest Missouri, and Northeast Oklahoma. KOAM News Now, Salvation Army and many other community service organizations and businesses have organized this worthwhile endeavor.

 

In Fort Scott, new, unwrapped toys for children birth through 16 years of age may be dropped off during regular business hours at the Lowell Milken Center at 1 South Main. (The Lowell Milken Center is open from 10 am–5 pm, M-F, and 10 am–4 pm on Saturdays.) The toys will be distributed through Compassionate Ministries/Salvation Army here in Bourbon County.

 

Toybox Tuesday Telethons will be conducted during the Noon, 5:00, 6:00, and 9:00 pm newscasts on KOAM and FOX14 and its KOAM+ streaming platforms.  Dates for the telethons are November 28, December 5, and December 12. Viewers have the opportunity to make a tax-deductible financial contribution to support Toybox during the telethons. All monies raised are used to purchase new toys and gifts.

 

Additional information can be found at http://koamnewsnow.com/Toybox.

Obituary

Memorial Service for Wilma Graham is December 9

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Wilma Kay Graham, age 77, a resident of Redfield, Kansas, passed away Sunday, November 12, 2023, at her home in Redfield.  There was cremation.

A memorial service will be held at 2:00 PM Saturday, December 9th, at the Redfield United Methodist Church.

Memorials are suggested to the Redfield Ruritan 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.