Submitted by Amber Toth, USD 234 debate coach, Dec. 20

We started Christmas vacation with the regional debate tournament in Parsons. There were six schools in our 4A regional. We competed against Coffeyville, Independence, Chanute, Wellington, Mulvane and Parsons.

The team of Joe Adams and Isabella Provence were the Affirmative and went undefeated. The negative team of Zach Humble and Seth Cross only dropped two rounds. Our alternates were Breana Mooney and Hunter Parker.

We walked away with a regional championship. Mulvane came in second. These students, along with the two-speaker teams of Sebastian Loyd/Charlotte Hutchison, Garrett Tatro/Darby Toth, Tayton Majors/Sara Al-Shawish, and Jake Province/Suzi Owen will be representing us at state. Rebekah Sweyko and Ethan Tatro also qualify for state as novices. Unfortunately, due to the cap on entries, the younger team will not be competing at state.

I am so proud of this team. They are strong across the board. State will be in Independence on January 15th and 16th. The very next weekend we will begin our forensics season. Enjoy your break. I know we will.

In recent weeks, equipment has been spotted at the old grain elevator located at Wall Street and Highway 69 as crews begin work to repair the old concrete in preparation for other improvements and changes.

Neil Burkhardt, who is overseeing the Wall Street Properties and is assisting in the project plans for the building on behalf of its owner, said the goal is to turn the building into a facility for entertainment and recreation, such as repelling or other physical activities.

“It’s to try to create some activities for local people and bring people from out of town,” Burkhardt said, saying they are researching what would work with the building and what the city allows. “That’s in the process of being thought out and checked out.”

Burkhardt said those involved in the project are still kicking around ideas, but while doing that the building is being cleaned, repaired and painted. The goal is to have a plan in place by late spring.

“Just keep an eye on it,” Burkhardt said of the project.

In the last basketball games of the 2015 calendar year, neither the varsity boys nor girls teams could hold off the Chanute Blue Comets Friday evening, despite hard-fought games and loud support from their fans.

The Tigers boys’ team just narrowly missed ending the year with a win after leading by seven points at half time, only to score a total of nine more points the remainder of the game, which included four minutes of overtime.

The Tigers lost the lead before the end of the third quarter, but managed to tie the game twice in the fourth quarter to take it into overtime. But with one second left in overtime, trailing by just one point, the Tigers lost possession and then the game to the Comets, 37-35.

While their defense kept Chanute to well below their average points per game for the season, their own offense ultimately kept them from ending the night with a win, despite 16 points including three three-pointers from senior Kaleb DeLaTorre and six points apiece from seniors Josh Hudiburg and Austin Cook.

The girls also struggled with offense as they faced a taller team in the Lady Comets, with a 3-2 lead in the early minutes of the game being their only lead of the evening. Despite holding Chanute to only seven free throws and no field goals in the fourth quarter, the Lady Tigers fell 59-35.

Senior Ashley Cook led the team with 11 points, including three three-pointers, while junior Emily Hale added seven points. The Tigers play again in Fort Scott on January 8.

A portion of the student section in attendance came dressed in Star Wars costumes in honor of the movie’s recent release and bearing signs with words of encouragement along the same theme, including ‘May the Fort be with you.’

During a Christmas party Saturday, the Fort Scott Public Library gave children an opportunity to decorate Christmas cookies, wrap gifts, make crafts, hunt for candy canes, earn prizes and even have a “snowball” fight.

Youth librarian Valeta Cannon and other library staff and volunteers from the community helped organize and run the event that split the children up into separate groups in order to participate in age-appropriate activities.

Throughout the year the library has provided a reading time each Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. for those children not in school yet, reading stories on specific themes, singing songs and doing crafts before ending with a snack time. A holiday story time will be held Tuesday morning for families with children before taking a break for the holidays.

With the new, Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie premiering in theaters across the nation Thursday evening, local fans got in on the excitement as well by dressing up for an event at Fort Cinema prior to the first showing at 7 p.m.

Fans of all ages came to the movie theater in Star Wars costumes, ranging from Jedi to Princess Leia and even Queen Amidala. Others came in Star Wars t-shirts or carrying lightsabers.

A local radio station reported directly from the theater during the event, involving participants in on-air Star Wars trivia games and competitions on who could impersonate Chewbacca, Yoda or even R2-D2 the best. Awards were given to winners as well as costume contest participants.

Theater owner Amanda Hale said she grew up watching the original Star Wars movies in theaters with her father, and is glad that the tradition can continue for families now as the series continues.

“There’s a lot of Star Wars fans out there,” Hale said, saying they were happy to provide the event and showing that included all three screens, with two showing it in 3-D. “It’s really awesome that we get to do this at our theater.”

Hale was able to watch the movie before its release and admitted she got emotional when the opening story information began to scroll upward as it had in previous films. Admitting she herself is a “nerd” when it comes to Star Wars, Hale said she enjoyed getting to celebrate the movie release with other fans Friday night.

“It was fun,” Hale said. “We enjoyed it.”

Over the next four weeks, Hale said the Star Wars movie will be showing on at least one of the theater’s three screens, while the first week or two it will be showing on two screens. Unfortunately, she said rumors have led people to believe that tickets are unavailable, when in fact some showings on Friday did not have any sales.

“There are rumors going around that we’re completely sold out for the next two weeks,” Hale said, admitting that is frustrating for her and emphasizing it is completely untrue.

Tickets remain available for the remainder of the opening weekend, which has the potential to break box office records nation-wide. Times for weekend showings are available at Fort Cinema’s website and Facebook page.

During their final meeting of 2015, the Fort Scott City Commission received reports from different organizations supported by the city as well as approved different budget changes and improvements to be made in different areas of the city.

• Jan Hedges, the volunteer coordinator of the Fort Scott Circles program, now into its second year of existence in the area, gave an update on the program whose license fees are paid by the city of Fort Scott. Hedges said the goal of the program is to help those in the community in poverty or who would like to improve their way of living. Divided into two phases, a second group of participants graduated from the first phase Wednesday evening and will begin the second, 18-month phase in January. For that phase, Hedges said they are looking for volunteers from the community who would partner with members of the program, attending monthly meetings with them and providing extra support.
• Historic Preservation Association chairman Rhonda Dunn also gave an update on recent events, after accepting a one-time gift of $5,000 from the city. During the Moonlight and Mistletoe tour of the LaRoche property the first weekend of December, the HPA raised about $9,000 from the more than 180 participants. The entire weekend Holiday Homes tour had about 300 participate in touring the five buildings. The HPA also donated $1,000 to the city during the event to go towards purchasing a new trolley. Dunn also gave an update on the changes made to the county courthouse, which now includes different historical artifacts donated to be put on display.
• The city decided to turn the maintenance of a road to Peerless Products, Inc., located next to the road that is just paved property by the end of it. The company, which in recent months became the top employer in Fort Scott, is planning to expand their business with a new building. With the property running just a few feet from the road, and wanting to make improvements to the roadway and its drainage, Peerless agreed to take care of the costs associated with it as the city agreed to transfer that responsibility to them.
• Work will continue on the golf course clubhouse after the city agreed to accept a bid from a construction company that will complete the job by March 1 for a total of about $53,000. That amount will be funded by the remaining $23,000 received because of previous hail damage as well as another $30,000 from the golf course endowment fund, made up of donations from the community. City Manager Dave Martin emphasized that none of it will come from taxpayers’ dollars.
• Other year-end business included amending the budget to allow the city to spend excess revenue from 2015 as well as adding a three percent increase in water and other utility rates such as sewer and storm water rates. They will also begin looking at options to trade in the Waste Water Treatment Plant’s tractor for a newer one and accept bids in order to replace the city’s oldest sewer lift station.

During their last meeting of the year Tuesday evening, the USD 234 school board received a report on the bids received for the bond project  and approved the bids selected, allowing them to take a step closer to construction.

In recent weeks, working in conjunction with Nabholz Construction and Hollis and Miller, the school district accepted more than 300 bids from more than 100 entities, some local businesses and others from out of town and state. Since accepting them, Superintendent Bob Beckham said they carefully scrutinized each bid, looking for the best options.

“We were very pleased with the outpouring of bids,” Steve Bennett of Nabholtz said, saying it was likely the most they had received for a specific project. “There’s been a lot of dialogue behind the scenes to bring you the best package.”

Bennett said they needed approval from the board so they could begin discussing contracts with the bidders selected so they can then move forward with construction, first at the high school and Winfield Scott and then moving on to other areas.

Packages bid on in the overall project included building and pre-cast concrete, carpentry, steel metal panels, door frames and hardware, glass and glazing, framing and drywall, utilities, paving and other areas.

The initial bids for the projects added up to more than $24.7 million. Bennett said bids were about five percent above budget but they have negotiated that down to about one or two percent over, and he believes they could get that even lower until they are within budget parameters.

“I know you all are anxious and we’re anxious to get started,” Bennett said, adding that finalizing the contracts will take a couple weeks, but some drawings and planning can be done simultaneously.

With contracts completed, Bennett said they could begin moving dirt in the next two weeks, preparing for laying concrete.

“I’m looking forward to seeing some dirt move,” school board member Janette Braun said, while other members said they look forward to physical evidence that work is being done after receiving numerous questions from members of the community wanting to know why work is not being done.

While a couple months behind their initial, conservative timeline, Bennett said work will begin soon and, though the schedule will be tight, there is still a possibility they will complete work on time.

“Let’s build,” Beckham closed the discussion with as the present board members approved the bids.

For an eighth year, Fort Scott National Cemetery participated in a nation-wide effort to place wreaths at the gravestones in each of the national cemeteries in the United States through the Wreaths Across America effort.

“This means a lot to me that you came out to support this mission,” said Kevin Wagner, who helped organize the event Saturday and fundraisers throughout the year.

The motto and goal of the program is to “Remember, Honor, Teach.” Keynote speaker Brett Houk, a retired major and part of the United States Air Force reserves, said it is important to pass that tradition on to the next generation.

“The importance of days like this cannot be overemphasized,” Houk said. “If we don’t remember, honor and teach, we’re destined to make the same mistakes that other countries have made throughout history.”

Houk reminded his audience that the freedoms enjoyed in the United States came at a very high price, paid by soldiers and fellow Americans over the years, and it is up to Americans today to continue to defend those rights.

A large number of Fort Scott residents as well as visitors from out of town and state came to place wreaths on about half the gravestones located at the cemetery after the ceremony, with some taking time to read the names of those buried there.

“This is so much larger than last year,” said Dav Mohler, who gave the invocation and benediction during the ceremony.

In 2014, about 800 wreaths were placed at the cemetery. But this year, after success in fundraising such as through the Wreath Ride in August, 2,581 wreaths were purchased through individual and corporate donations.

Those wreaths were escorted to Fort Scott National Cemetery by about 50 motorcyclists who rode with the semi-truck from Missouri. The ceremony also included the pledge of allegiance led by Cub Scout Pack 95 of Anderson, Mo., a rifle volley from Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1165, TAPS played by Steve Harry and the recognition of two gold star families.

With temperatures well above the freezing mark and with the rain holding off, Fort Scott’s first Frozen Five and Dime Run at Gunn Park drew about 70 runners from the community as well as out of town and state Saturday morning.

Tom Gorman, a trail runner himself for some time, organized the event that he says he and other organizers hope will become an annual event, though he said he prefers the colder temperatures they had prepared for instead of the warmer and slightly damp weather they had Saturday.

“It should be a perfect day for running,” Gorman addressed the runners of all ages prior to the run, which included five-kilometer, five-mile and 10-mile routes.

Most of the runners, some coming from Kansas City, Lawrence, Overland Park and even Springfield, admitted they had never used the Gunn Park trails. Gorman said drawing such people for the event had been a goal of theirs.

“A lot of people who have never seen our trails who will want to come back,” Gorman described the group of participants. “And that’s what we want.”

Runners who spent the night at a local hotel were given free entry for the run, while all participants received $15 in chamber bucks to go with the $25 entry fee.

Gorman said the Chamber of Commerce and the City of Fort Scott were great supporters for the event, as well as other organizations such as Hartman Spine and Joint and Mercy Hospital. Volunteers also participated from local church youth groups and other high school students.

Those with the best times were given prizes after the run. Smores and hot chocolate as well as colder drinks were also provided to the runners after they completed the trails.

After holding a soft opening in early November, the Fort Scott National Historic Site officially opened a new Civil War exhibit for the community to visit during the weekly Chamber Coffee hosted at the fort Thursday morning.

“Finally, after a lengthy time, we were able to get these exhibits installed,” fort superintendent Betty Boyko said of the project, which took years of waiting for funding and then planning before it was finally completed in recent months.

Both Boyko and former fort employee Kelley Collins, who was recognized for the time she spent working on the exhibits before leaving the fort in January of this year, said their goal was to update the previous exhibit to be more appealing to a younger generation that is interested in more interaction.

The exhibit follows numerous characters, including a slaveholder, abolitionist, slave, Native American and others throughout the years leading up to the Civil War and throughout the war itself. Videos of these characters’ different perspectives run throughout the exhibit, with some of the characters played by Fort Scott residents.

“There’s enough in the exhibit that every time you come back you’ll find something new,” Collins said.

Bill Fischer was also recognized for his key role in the exhibit, which he said included much planning, hiring different contractors for their construction and for the video and audio, as well as editing of all the information to make sure it was accurate and politically correct.

The exhibit was completed in time for the beginning of the National Park Service’s 100^th anniversary to be celebrated throughout 2016. Some of Fort Scott’s events to coincide with the anniversary include a vintage baseball game, Native Neighbors in October, Picnic in the Park in August and other events throughout the year with the fort as the theme, such as part of the Good Ol’ Days.

During the weekly Chamber Coffee Thursday morning, business and city leaders from the community announced a variety of different events happening over the weekend and into the next week, encouraging members of the community to participate in the events to show support for varying aspects of the city.

• Friday evening at 7 p.m., the Fort Scott High School Thespian Troupe will provide an evening of Improv Comedy at the Common Ground Coffee Co., improvising based on suggestions from their audience. The event will serve as a fundraiser for the troupe for an upcoming competition, asking visitors to make a donation of $5. The Common Ground will also host a trio at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
• Gunn Park will host the first Frozen Five and Dime Run Saturday morning at 9 a.m., with participating runners choosing between five-kilometer, five-mile and 10-mile trails through the park. The $25 entry comes with $15 in Chamber Bucks that can be used at about 40 stores and restaurants in Fort Scott. Similar “Frozen” events may be held in future years, though the weather may not be as warm as this weekend, which has a forecast of warm temperatures.
• The Fort Scott National Cemetery will again host the Wreaths Across America event Saturday morning, as part of a nation-wide effort to place wreaths at each of the headstones in national cemeteries around the United States. While about 800 wreaths were placed at the cemetery in Fort Scott last year, this year’s fundraisers and donations have allowed the purchase of 2,581 wreaths, to be placed around the cemetery Saturday at 11 a.m.
• The USD 234 junior varsity basketball teams will participate in a tournament this weekend, including games on Saturday. Games will also be played at home next Friday, Dec. 18, against Chanute, the final games before Christmas break.

More information on upcoming events, such as other fundraisers and events can be found at the Chamber of Commerce website, fortscott.com, or by visiting local businesses or city of Fort Scott offices.