Carol Oakleaf, left, and Lori Lovelace show the donation can for clothing to the Fort Scott Community Closet which is located in the Fort Scott Washateria.
The Washateria, 501 S. National, is having a clothes give-away this Saturday.
“We are having our June 2021 Community Day on Saturday, June 19, 2021,” Lori Lovelace, owner, said. “It will be open 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and we will have all of our sorted clothing out for anyone to come by and find something.”
“Fort Scott Community Closet is a clothing charity supported by all of Fort Scott,” she said. “We serve Fort Scott and surrounding communities providing clothing, bedding, coats etc. to people in need.”
“We have no qualifying criteria,” Lovelace said. ” if you need clothing you can come to the Community Day or call us at 620-644-9834 and we can sort out what you need.”
“We also have men’s suits and business attire as well as women’s business attire.”
Fort Scott Washateria is in the 500 block of South National Avenue. This photo was taken just before its’ opening in August 2019.
The Bourbon County Commission room in the courthouse, September 2018.
The Bourbon County Commission will be receiving the former Mercy Hospital building at 401 Woodland Hills Blvd. and $600,000 from Mercy as a donation to the county, Rob Harrington, Bourbon County Economic Development Director said in an email.
Robert Harrington. Submitted photo.
Mercy Hospital Fort Scott closed in October 2018.
The Sisters of Mercy had served the community since 1886.
Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas has had a clinic at the building since Mercy closed, but is moving when its’ lease is up at the end of 2022.
They have purchased the former Price Chopper store, 2322 Main Street, for their new facility.
The emergency department at the former hospital building also has a lease that will be up in 2022.
The county commission has been working on a solution to keep the building viable, as opposed to tearing the two-decades-old building down.
“Today is the beginning of a process, “Bourbon County Commissioner Clifton Beth said. “The attorneys will be going through the process of accepting the donation and the $600,000.”
Clifton Beth represents District 3. Photo from Facebook.
“We are in conversation with different entities that could potentially have use for that building,” Beth said.
The Bourbon County Commission is comprised of Beth, Lynne Oharah and Jim Harris.
First District Bourbon County Commissioner Lynne Oharah.Jim Harris, Bourbon County Commissioner, District 2.
Beth said credit needs to go to Harrington who has been working to find entities that are interested.
“A lot of behind-the-scenes work is going on,” Beth said.
“We are trying to save the building,” Beth said. “My main priority is to have an Emergency Room in Bourbon County.”
“At the end of the day, the end users for that building, if they can use it, great,” Beth said. “If not, we’ll look at other options.”
“My goal is to be sure we have an ER,” Beth said. “Ascension Via Christi has one-and-one-half years left on their (current) lease. In conversations with them, they are planning to stay.”
Ascension Via Christi operates the emergency department at the former Mercy Hospital building.
Penny’s Diner is located in the lobby of Travelodge Hotel, 2505 S. Main.
At the Travel Lodge Hotel in Fort Scott, meals are available to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“Even Christmas, Thanksgiving, the 4th of July,” said Rhonda Walker, general manager of the hotel.
“We have a full menu, all day, every day,” she said. “If you want a hamburger at 3 a.m. you can get it, if you want breakfast at 2 p.m. you can get it. We get some late-nighters.”
A malt made in Penny’s Diner. The diner has a 50s motif.
Penny’s Diner is located in the lobby of the hotel at 2505 S. Main and has been there for six years.
The whiteboard in the diner tells of the special meals of the day.
“People can order online and pay there, or can call in an order, or can come in,” Walker said. “Go to http://pennysdiner.com/ and it will bring up the menu.”
One can also use the barcode at Penny’s Diner to order.
“We’ve got some really good cooks,” she said.
Cindy Sue McDowell, cook and front desk agent at Penny’s Diner.There is a room for a small group at Penny’s Diner.
Penny’s Diner is located in the lobby of Travelodge Hotel, 2505 S. Main.
“Our hotel is a BNSF Railroad Hotel, and we also house regular guests,” Walker said. “We have 70 rooms, with nine of them extended stay.”
The Uniontown area had several utility poles down in a storm on June 11. Pictured is one on the main street of Uniontown.
Bourbon County suffered damage from high winds in a storm that rolled through the area on the evening of June 11.
Two electric companies serve this area.
HRC Update
Heartland Rural Electric’s first outage report was around 5:30 p.m., according to Doug Graham, communications specialist. “At that time six of our substations were off due to transmission line outages from our power supplier.”
At the peak of the outage, around 4,500 Heartland members were out of power, he said.
“Crews worked through the night on Friday to restore power,” Graham said. “By Saturday morning, the number of outages had been reduced to around 800. By the end of Saturday, we were down to around 50.”
“Most of the damage to Heartland’s system was caused by high winds, trees, and debris,” he said. “In total, we had around 20 pole breaks and 25 line breaks. Some lightning damage was evident as well. Our heaviest damage was concentrated in rural Bourbon County around Devon, Uniontown, and Bronson.”
“Heartland dispatched every available line worker to address the outages, and called in mutual aid from Twin Valley Electric Cooperative in Altamont in order to restore power as quickly as possible,” Graham said.
To be ready for a power outage, Graham recommended the following link:
“I would also mention that Heartland has a number of preventive programs in place to minimize the damage from storms such as the one we experienced on Friday,” Graham said. “For example, we have a pole inspection program wherein we identify poles with rot or structural weakness and replace them as needed, and we have an extensive vegetation management program to keep trees from getting too close to lines. Without these preventive measures, the damage could have been much worse.”
Evergy’s Update
Evergy reported that around 7:30 PM on Friday evening is when they received notice the power went out in the area.
“It is difficult to give an exact time on when the last outages were restored because they all came back on at different times in those areas,” Andrew Baker, Evergy Senior Communications Manager, said.
“Our crews were working widespread to make sure the power came back on as quickly and safely as possible for our customers,” he said.
About 2,000 customers were affected between Pittsburg, Ft. Scott and Humboldt, Baker said.
“The cause of most of the outages in the area was due to severe storms, wind, lightning, hail and heavy rain,” he said.
“We had around 50 crew members working in the area along with multiple contract crews as well,” Baker said. “We also had multiple personnel in the Wichita, Leavenworth, Atchison, and Hiawatha.”
“You want to make sure that your cell phone is fully charged and you have a battery-operated radio ready to go to check for weather updates,” Baker said. “You also want to make sure to create a communications plan in the event of a storm. Have a family plan that includes an emergency meeting space and related information. This way you can make sure your friends and family members are accounted for if severe weather should occur.”
On June 1, Kenneth Epperson assumed the pastorate of the Fort Scott First Southern Baptist Church.
Epperson has over 20 years of experience, following his education at Slidell Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisiana.
“That includes camps, evangelism work, and a singing ministry,” he said. “This is the closest I have been to my hometown, Butler, MO.’
The best part of pastoring is getting to encourage and give people hope, he said.
“Everybody needs encouragement,” he said. “We work hard at that. That’s my joy. God loves them and they will make it.”
When asked what one of the biggest challenges for a pastor is, he responded “Bringing people together. Bringing a people into unity and moving them forward in the kingdom.”
Tracy and Kenneth Epperson. Submitted photo.
Epperson and his wife, Tracy, have two married sons, two grandsons, with “one on the way,” he said.
Epperson said God called him at 14 years old to be a pastor.
“We had a guest speaker at our church,” he said. “I remember where I was sitting, when I heard the Lord say ‘You are going to do that someday.'”
“When I was ordained, my Mom told me when she was rocking me when I was young, she felt that I was going to be a pastor one day,” Epperson said. “That was powerful to me.”
The church, located at 1818 S. Main has Sunday School at 9:30 a.m. and worship at 10:50 a.m.
An upcoming event at the church is Vacation Bible School, which is August 4-8 from 9 a.m.to noon at the church.
For more information contact the church at 620.223.2986.
Pictured is the Bodyworks and Wellness ribbon cutting on May 27, facilitated by Uniontown Ruritan Club. From left Ruritan Members Mark Warren, Kevin Gleason, Raymond George, Joe George, Mauriel Whisenhunt-the owner, Henry Homan, and Mike Mason, stand in front of the business at 104 Sherman, Uniontown.
Mauriel Whisenhunt helped her grandfather, Clyde Brooker, when he was homebound and had edema.
“I would massage his feet, arms, and back,” she said. “He was the first who said God has given me a gift.”
This prompted her to begin a career in massage therapy.
Whisenhunt’s massage therapy is pain management, she said.
“I do pain management,” she said. “Everybody is different, I work to accommodate what the body may need.”
Whisenhunt said she is grateful for her clients.
She said many in the business don’t make it.
“Longevity in massage is five years,” she said. “It’s hard work.”
“I have so much gratitude for the personal relationships with people, watching client’s kids grow up, working in hospice,” she said. ” I have so much overwhelming gratitude. Every place I have been, it’s God’s timing.”
She is constantly learning, even after 20 years.
Her diploma from White River School of Massage.
“There is so much new coming out about science and massage,” she said.
Her constant challenge is trying to help people get out of pain and helping them with pain management, she said.
Mauriel Whisenhunt stands in front of her continuing education certificates at her business, Bodyworks And Wellness.
Whisenhunt has been a massage therapist for 20 years.
Last year, she moved her business, Bodyworks and Wellness, to Uniontown, where she lives.
“COVID (the pandemic of the last year) prompted me to open shop in Uniontown,” Whisenhunt said. “I think all small businesses had to reshape their business plan.”
“We were told by the (Kansas) governor that we couldn’t work,” she said. “I was quarantined five times, two weeks each time from different places of contact.”
“When you can’t work, you have no income,” she said.
She and her husband, Rick, live in Uniontown and in addition, own a large building there.
“We revamped a small portion of his hobby space,” she said.
The building is located at 104 Sherman, just off Uniontown square. For an appointment call 620-224-7251.
Jayhawk Wind project staging area is located at the intersection of Hwy. 39 and Hwy.3, southwest of Fort Scott.
The Jayhawk Wind power project is progressing in Bourbon County.
The following is an update from Julianna Pianelli, development manager for Apex Clean Energy, based in Charlottesville, VA.
Q: Will you give an update on the progress of the wind power farm in Bourbon County, KS?
A: “Construction is underway; we are currently installing access roads and recently completed the laydown yard (located off Highway 39, west of Highway 3), where our core project staff and job trailers will be located. We are now beginning to excavate the foundations for the wind turbines.”
The laydown yard of the Jayhawk Wind farm project is located at the Hwy. 3 and Hwy. 39 in southwestern Bourbon County.
Q: Who is the contact on the ground here in Bourbon County?
A: “The construction site manager for Apex is Tharon Anderson.”
Q: Are there still jobs available and what is the contact?
A: “IEA, the project’s contractor, would have information about job openings and other construction-related information. Please come to the construction office at the laydown yard located near the Highway 39 and Highway 3 junction for more information.”
Q: When will we start to see them going up?
A: “The turbine components will begin arriving on-site at the end of July, and the erection will begin shortly after that.”
Q: When will it be completed?
A: “ The anticipated completion date is in Q4 (fall) 2021.”
This graphic pinpoints the turbine placement. Submitted graphic.
The open house for the Uniontown Clinic of Girard Medical Center is this Saturday, June 12 from 2-3 p.m. The clinic is open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The clinic is located on the main street in Uniontown, south of the Uniontown High School football field.
Refreshments and give-aways will be offered.
The clinic provides the following services: primary care, well-woman exams, sports and pre-school physicals, lab draws-with any physician’s order, and rapid testing for COVID, strep, flu, hemoglobin, blood sugar, urine, pregnancy and occult blood.
SEK Muliti-County Health Department, located at 6th and Lowman Streets, Fort Scott.
SEK Multi-County Health Department lead nurse, Alice Maffett BSN, RN, is retiring after 20 plus years.
“I have worked in public health for over 21 years besides working as a clinical nurse in different settings such as obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, orthopedic and psychiatric medicine,” she said.
Alice Maffett. Submitted photo.
“I have always enjoyed the aspect of public health even when I was in nursing school,” she said. “Public health allowed me the opportunity to work with my community partners and to further good health practices in this county.”
She did this through immunization clinics, teaching health-related subjects in schools, disease investigations, and public speaking to community groups.
“The best part of working in public health was the people in our community I got to help every day,” she said.
” I can honestly say that the most challenging issue that I’ve had to face with my job has been the COVID outbreak,” Maffett said. “At one point I was working seven days a week from early morning until the evening. This virus has just been relentless. I believe it has wearied all of us.”
Maffett’s last day officially with the SEK Multi-County Health Department will be June 26.
“I will start a new chapter in my life from that point and I’m excited to see where God will lead me,” she said.
“Thank you to all the many, many community members and organizations that I have had the privilege of working with during my time in public health. I will miss them all,” Maffett said.
Bartelsmeyer Jewelry is moving from1519 South National Avenue to 22 North Main Street in downtown Fort Scott, on June 18.
Bartelsmeyer Jewelry, 22 N. Main Street.
“In February 2014, my wife Cindy and I purchased 22 North Main in downtown Fort Scott,” owner John Bartelsmeyer said. “Cindy had a dream of renovating the upstairs into a loft apartment that we could enjoy as we move towards our retirement years.”
“Now that we are moved into our apartment, we have enjoyed watching the new growth and life these past few years have brought to Fort Scott’s historic downtown area,” he said. “We are so excited to help continue this revitalization as we move our storefront back to Main street. We hope that the Fort Scott community is as excited as we are and will continue to be supportive of all our downtown business!”
“We are planning for our first day open at the new store to be June 18, 2021,” he said.
A sign on the door of the newly renovated space at 22 N. Main, the site of the new Bartelsmeyer Jewelry store.
“We are planning to sell the store at 1519 S. National after we have moved to the new 22 North Main location,” he said. “We hope that the new business owners will enjoy this building as much as we have!”
A History of the Jewelry Store
“Our jewelry store has been in business operating under the name Bartelsmeyer Jewelry since 1963,” John Bartelsmeyer said. “However, our store was first opened under the name ‘F Whiles Jewelry & Watches’ in 1904. The store was later purchased by Ova Newberry who grew up with my father, M. H ‘Bart’ Bartelsmeyer. “
“They learned the watchmaking trade together as young men,” Bartelsmeyer said. “Mr. Newberry asked my father to come and help him get caught up in 1939. My dad was on his way to go to work in Denver. He came to Fort Scott to help Ova, but they never got caught up. My father stayed and worked with Ova until he died in 1963.”
“Ova’s wife sold my dad the business and it became Bartelsmeyer Jewelry,” he said.
John Bartelsmeyer is the owner and bench jeweler of Bartelsmeyer Jewelry. Submitted photo.Cindy Bartelsmeyer, and her husband John, are the owners of the business. Submitted photo.Krysta Hulbert is the store manager. Submitted photo.Jenna Bond is a sales associate. Submitted photo.Emily Farrington is a sales associate. Submitted photo.Anna Laubenstein is a sales associate. Submitted photo.
Employees currently are John Bartelsmeyer-owner and bench jeweler, Cindy Bartelsmeyer-owner, Krysta Hulbert-store manager,
Jenna Bond-sales associate, Emily Farrington-sales associate, Anna Laubenstein-sales associate, and Julie Kibble-sales associate.
A three-attorney disciplinary panel recommended the Kansas Supreme Court disbar former Shawnee County prosecutor Jacqie Spradling for misconduct in two high-profile Kansas criminal cases overturned on appeal. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)
TOPEKA — A three-attorney panel unanimously recommended the Kansas Supreme Court disbar a Kansas attorney for knowingly making false statements to juries during two high-profile trials and for misleading claims about her prosecutorial misconduct to justices of the state’s highest court.
Jacqie Spradling, who more recently worked as an attorney in Bourbon and Allen counties, landed before the disciplinary panel after the Supreme Court overturned the 2012 double-homicide conviction of Dana Chandler in Shawnee County and the Kansas Court of Appeals overturned a 2017 guilty verdict against Jacob Ewing in a sex-crime case in Jackson County. Spradling was lead prosecutor in both cases.
Chandler is awaiting retrial for first-degree murder, while Ewing accepted a plea deal in May to avoid another trial.
“Based on the deliberative pattern of serious misconduct and the serious injury that followed, the hearing panel unanimously recommends that the respondent be disbarred,” the report submitted to the Supreme Court said. “From all the evidence presented, it appears that the respondent concluded that Chandler and Ewing were guilty of the crimes charged and she adopted a ‘win-at-all-costs’ approach.”
The report obtained Friday by the Kansas Reflector was submitted by panelists John Larson, Darcy Williamson and William Jeter for consideration by the Supreme Court. The panel said the issue wasn’t that Spradling engaged in an isolated incident or made an inconsequential mistake in the heat of trial. The panel said the Iola resident “knowingly and intentionally” engaged in a “deliberative pattern of serious misconduct.”
In addition, the panel determined Spradling’s handling of the two criminal cases “undermines the confidence in the judicial system and caused serious injury to the administration of justice.”
Members of the Supreme Court, which hold final authority in disciplinary cases involving attorneys, will issue a decision based on the panel’s 78-page report.
The state disciplinary administrator’s office in Kansas that investigated complaints about Spradling’s behavior as a prosecutor proposed that her license to practice law be indefinitely suspended. Spradling, however, told the disciplinary panel that she shouldn’t be disciplined at all.
Spradling had been dismissive of allegations of wrongdoing until she testified at the disciplinary panel hearing in December. During that under-oath appearance, she conceded to having “failed in these cases” to uphold the ethical duties of a prosecutor. She begged the hearing panel to accept her assertion that her work as an officer of the court was defined by a “protectiveness, a loyalty and a belief in justice.”
“When these cases were overturned, it was very difficult because I had let the system down. I had let the victims down and I had denied the defendants a fair trial,” Spradling said.
As of Friday, Spradling was employed as the Bourbon County attorney in Fort Scott. Allen County attorney Jerry Hathaway said Spradling resigned from her position Friday as assistant county attorney for Allen County.
“With regard to the recommendation of the disciplinary panel, I was disappointed,” Hathaway said.
The Supreme Court laid the foundation for advancement of a disciplinary case against Spradling in 2018 when the justices overturned Chandler’s convictions in the Topeka slayings of Mike Sisco, Chandler’s ex-husband, and his fiancee, Karen Harkness. The Supreme Court said Spradling’s conduct in the Chandler case illustrated how a compulsion for courthouse victories could subvert a prosecutor’s duty to guarantee a person’s fair-trial rights.
Supreme Court Justice Dan Biles summed up Spradling’s tactics in the Chandler trial: “Taken as a whole, this prosecution unfortunately illustrates how a desire to win can eclipse the state’s responsibility to safeguard the fundamental constitutional right to a fair trial owed to any defendant facing criminal prosecution in a Kansas courtroom.”
During the Chandler trial in Shawnee County District Court, Spradling falsely told the jury a protection from abuse order was issued against Chandler prior to the 2002 slaying of Sisco and Harkness. There is evidence Sisco requested a mutual temporary restraining order four years before his death while going through the divorce from Chandler.
When Chandler appealed her case, Spradling told Supreme Court justices in a written brief that she believed the more rigorous protection from abuse order had been put in place by a district court. That’s what she had told the Chandler jury and repeated to state disciplinary investigators despite an inability to produce evidence a judge had ever issued that type of restraining order against Chandler.
Spradling testified to the three-person disciplinary panel that she never possessed documentary proof of the protection from abuse order. She said filing of the disciplinary case led her to conduct a fresh attempt to locate such a document. That search was unsuccessful, she said.
“I was wrong. Dead wrong,” Spradling told the panel. “So, for a person who wants to be right, strives to be right, being wrong is embarrassing, humbling.”
The disciplinary panel responded to her confession in its report: “In addition to the false statement made to the jury and to the Supreme Court, during the respondent’s sworn statement made during the disciplinary investigation, she also made false statements. During the disciplinary hearing, the respondent admitted that her sworn statement included misstatements. The hearing panel concludes that the respondent took an oath to tell the truth when she gave the sworn statement and she failed to do so.”
Spradling’s reputation as an experienced prosecutor of complex crimes in Johnson and Shawnee counties led officials in Jackson County to hire her as a special prosecutor in the Ewing case. It was a case made difficult because the alleged crimes occurred in a small community and turned on the jury’s conclusions of the credibility of female witnesses.
Spradling convinced a jury in Jackson County that Ewing was guilty of rape, aggravated criminal sodomy and battery. The Holton man was sentenced to 27 years in prison.
In 2019, the Court of Appeals concluded Spradling made a half-dozen errors during the Ewing trial and had offered unsubstantiated claims to the Ewing jury during closing arguments. The case was remanded to Jackson County District Court. Rather than go through a retrial, Ewing agreed in May to a plea deal that would trigger a 10-year sentence for sexual assault.
THRAM’s Antiques and Collectables is located next door to Bronson Locker in Bronson, KS. Photo credit: Facebook
In a collaboration with local business owners, the Bronson Locker has started a Saturday shop day and is inviting local vendors and the public.
The street in front of the locker at 504 Clay Street, Bronson, is the venue and the dates are every other weekend: June 5th and 19th, July 3rd and 17th, and 31st, and Augusta 14th and 28th.
“The purpose of the sale is to bring local vendors and the community together to shop and support local,” Mandie Ericson, one of the sponsors of the event. “And It’s a way to bring the community together in general.”
“What this last year has taught us is that we are a strong country and small business in America is vital and the backbone of America,” she said. ” We want to keep pushing local vendors and small businesses.”
“For some people, (the COVID-19 Pandemic) negatively impacted them with a lack of farmer’s markets or events to sell at, so we want to attract more people into Bronson as well as help other vendors in need.”
“We are looking for more vendors to make this grow,” Erickson said. “We plan on continuing this every year!”
“Bronson is centrally located so we are trying to bring people in from Allen and Bourbon county to take advantage of our location being surrounded by small towns,” she said.
“So far we have the locker open for retail meats, the antique shop is open, Perry’s Pork Rinds, fresh farm honey, homemade pies, homemade jams, Super Poop and Highway 54 Buildings, and other vendors,” Ericson said.
“A local restaurant, The Chicken Shak offers a 10% discount for anyone that comes, and we match their discount if they have eaten at Chicken Shak,” she said.
